Beyond Facebook: 7 Great Social-Networking Sites

Facebook, Twitter and career-oriented LinkedIn are the best-known social-networking services—Web sites that help users connect with friends and associates online. But these sites are not for everyone. Some people don’t see the appeal of sharing the details of their lives on Facebook…or of reading someone else’s passing thoughts on Twitter.

But other, lesser-known social-networking services might hold appeal even for those who think social networking isn’t for them. These include services that focus on photos and video…services where participants discuss a specific topic, such as books or shopping…and sites similar to Facebook, only with less uncomfortable sharing and less of what some consider time-wasting chatting.

Among the social-networking services to consider…

For those who prefer snapping pictures to typing words: Instagram is an app-based photo-sharing social network for smartphone users. Use an iPhone or Android smartphone to take a picture, then easily post it to Instagram along with a brief description. It’s a simple way to keep family and friends up-to-date about your life without a lot of typing and without downloading photos from a camera or phone to a computer to load them onto Facebook. If you’re skilled with a camera, your pictures likely will be more interesting than written updates.
You can make your Instagram account public or restrict it to people you have agreed to share with. You also can link the Instagram account to a Facebook account if your family and friends mainly use that social network. It is possible to access some Instagram content through a computer, but it is designed primarily to be used through a smartphone. Facebook is in the process of acquiring Instagram, pending approval from government regulators.
To get started: Visit http://Instagram.com, and follow the directions to download the free app.


For bookworms: On Goodreads, you can share your thoughts about books you’ve read or currently are reading, find out what your friends are reading or search for other Goodreads users whose taste in books is similar to your own. You can join online book discussion groups or start a virtual book club, too. The site uses a computer program to make recommendations about books you might like based on the books you’ve enjoyed in the past. When you find a book that you like, the site provides links to online booksellers where you can purchase a copy.
Example: I loved The Book Thief, a novel I discovered only because of a Goodreads recommendation.
To get started: Visit www.Goodreads.com, and follow the directions to sign up.


To help you remember and share ideas: Pinterest lets you “pin” pictures of things you like on the Internet to a virtual bulletin board. These “visual bookmarks” are a great way to remember ideas—particularly for those who think better in pictures than in words. To return to the Web page where you originally found the picture, just click on the image on your bulletin board.
Pinterest is a handy way to share ideas and items of interest, too. People who view your bulletin board might offer their opinions or suggest comparable items you might like. Some users set up different boards for specific areas of interest.
Example: You could create a bulletin board of online recipes featuring images of dishes that sound appealing, then scan through it whenever you’re looking for something new to cook…and a separate bulletin board with pictures of furniture and decorative items that you’re considering for an upcoming home redecoration.

All Pinterest boards are public, so you can scan through other Pinterest users’ boards for ideas and inspiration. If you find something you like, you can “repin” it to your own board.
Home decoration, women’s fashion and weddings are particularly common themes on Pinterest—most users are women—but men increasingly are using Pinterest as well.
To get started: Visit www.Pinterest.com, and click “Request an Invite.”


For shopping: Fancy is comparable to Pinterest but specifically for shopping. When you find something on the Internet that you might want to later purchase, you can add its picture to your Fancy account. The account then serves as both a way to remember potential purchases and as a venue to discuss them with friends and other Fancy users. You can browse the items that others have posted to find things that you like or for gift ideas. Clicking on an image on Fancy leads to the site where the item can be purchased. Fancy’s focus on shopping has created a community of users who all enjoy shopping online and discussing their purchases with one another.
To get started: Visit www.TheFancy.com, then click “Join Now.”


For those who don’t want to share everything about their lives with everyone they know: Google+ is better than Facebook in some important ways, though it sometimes is disparaged as little more than a Facebook copycat. For instance, it lets users easily sort their contacts into separate “circles” and then lets members of each circle see only certain information.
Example: Create a circle for your professional contacts, another for your close friends and family, and a third for more distant acquaintances. This way, your business clients and long-ago college roommate won’t receive your family news or see your family pictures unless you want them to, something that is much harder to achieve with Facebook.
And unlike Facebook, Google+ is not designed to encourage chatting between users. That makes it the better choice for those who don’t want to devote endless hours to online conversations. The major downside of Google+ is that it doesn’t have as many members as Facebook—though it is growing quickly—so you might not be able to connect with as many of your friends and relatives through it.
To get started: Visit http://Plus.Google.com, and either sign in with your Google account or create a free account.


For video chats: Airtime is a new way to make free video phone calls to anywhere in the world over the Internet. Unlike the better-known online video-calling service Skype, which requires you to download free software before making calls, Airtime requires no additional software—it works seamlessly through Facebook.
Also unlike Skype, Airtime, launched in June by Napster cofounders Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, hopes to combine online video calling with social networking. In addition to enabling video calls to friends and acquaintances, Airtime gives users the option of arranging online video chats with strangers—perhaps people with whom they share an interest.
Warning: Earlier services that attempted to arrange video chats between strangers failed in part because some participants said and did inappropriate things or were in an inappropriate state of undress. Airtime hopes to limit this problem in part by weeding out users who receive low rankings from previous chat partners.

To get started: Go to www.Airtime.com, then click the “Launch Airtime” button. A Facebook account is required, as is a high-speed Internet connection and a webcam.


To blog easily and without restrictions: Tumblr is a micro-blogging platform—a service that lets users post regularly on topics of interest to them.
Tumblr is comparable to the better-known instant-messaging platform Twitter, but Tumblr is less restrictive. While Twitter posts can be no longer than 140 characters, Tumblr posts can be any length and can include photos and video and audio files. Tumblr often is a better option than Twitter for blogging about visual topics such as art or interior design where including photos is very beneficial…or about auditory topics such as learning to play a musical instrument or speak a foreign language where audio files can be a big help.
To get started: Visit www.Tumblr.com, then click the “Sign up” button at the top of the page.
Source: Sharon Vaknin, senior associate editor at CNET.com, a leading technology review Web site now owned by CBS Interactive. She previously hosted a tech-oriented radio show on radio station KSFS San Francisco. www.CNET.com