While there are hundreds of social networking sites out there, you only really need to worry about “the big four:” Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Other sites pale in comparison to the big four, which garner the most visits and have the most users of any social networking sites.
Ever wondered what other social networking sites are out there, trying (foolishly) to compete with these behemoths. Well here’s a round-up of some of the other social networking sites- that are so lame, you can safely ignore them.
1. Friendster.com
What’s that you say? Friendster was the first real social networking site, a predecessor to Facebook and MySpace? Sorry, but nobody cares anymore, and nobody uses Friendster anymore. Cute logo though!
2. MySpace.com
Unless you are in a band, or love Rupert Murdoch, there’s no need to be on MySpace any longer. Traffic on this site decreases daily, as users defect to Facebook. Facebook currently has more than 500 million users, while MySpace has 66 million.
3. Failin.gs
Create a profile on Failin.gs and your friends can leave anonymous feedback for you about why you suck! You might find out your friends think you are cheap, have bad breath or that you don’t make eye contact during conversation. It’s a way for everyone to experience the same self-scrutiny and social hell that teenage girls endure in middle school.
4. BeautifulPeople.com
The only way to get onto the BeautifulPeople social network is to upload your profile and open it up to voting by current members. If you’re hot, you’ll get enough votes to get in. If not, you’re out. The site makes this disclaimer on its about page: “BeautifulPeople does not define beauty, it simply gives an accurate representation of what society’s ideal of beauty is.” Society’s ideal of beauty? Or just the ideals of a bunch of homogenous individuals with lots of time on their hands.
5. Hi5.com
What a cute spelling! But seriously. What’s different about Hi5? The site claims on its about page: more you, more social and more fun. In the more fun category, it says, you can just hang out on Hi5. Wow, sign me up for that!
6. Classmates.com
This site helps you find classmates from school and is totally obsolete. My bet is that you are already stalking your old crush or the “mean girl” from high school on Facebook.
7. Myyearbook.com
I can comfortably write off this entire site, based on one testimonial from the about page (shown below).
8. Myrl.com
This site is a few too many degrees removed from reality. It’s a social network where avatars from virtual worlds such as Second Life can establish a profile and make friends.
9. Stachepassions.com
This free dating and social-networking site is built around a passion for mustaches. There are tons of profiles, some sorted by mustache type. Useless for real social networking opportunities, but fun to browse!
10. Hamsterster.com
A play on Dogster.com, this site allows you to build a social networking profile for your hamster and befriend other virtual hamsters. Bonus points for adding an extra “ster” to a word already ending in “ster.”
Britt Brouse writes for the PsPrint Design & Printing Blog. She has been writing about marketing, graphic design and printing for more than five years. You can find PsPrint on Twitter and Facebook.
Britt Brouse
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- 10 Social Networking Sites You Can Ignore - October 27, 2010
also you could consider including Orkut.com( social networking site by Google
I agree with your top 4, we always recommend high involvement in those, however, I don’t recommend completely ignoring MySpace. It does still have a strong following surprisingly, although yes not nearly close to the big guns, but still a place to have a presence.
Thanks Nick- you are right, I may have been overly hasty or snarky in dismissing Myspace.com.
If you are a marketer, and your target audience is on there, you should be too!
Social networking sites, much like everything else, go through popularity trends. For a while, MySpace was the social networking rage. Now it is considered a bit passe. It’s definitely not considered the “It” social networking site anymore, but I agree with Britt when she says you have to go where your customers are, even if the medium isn’t the most trendy or hip.
Doesn’t your participation and existence on different networks all depend on your goals? While the networks that you mention all pale in comparison to the big 4, I can certainly see the value in participating in them for marketers. If the sites are getting eyeballs, those eyeballs need to be sold something . . . don’t they?
Though, I’m of the belief that you shouldn’t bother being on a network if you’re not going to participate — unless you’re simply staking your claim to your virtual monniker.
These are top social networking sites which can get your business to sky and get you lot of traffic on your websites.
You forgot to add facebook. It’s lame too.
It is quite surprising how the popularity of Myspace has fallen in recent years, especially in the UK. Although saying that I don’t think it is worth completely ignoring it, it is still quite strong to include for aspects such as social bookmarking. Good overall perception though.