Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. These social networks we all know. However, they are not the only social networks striving for your attention.
Memeburn’s already looked at the 29 professional niche social networks you should know about, and we also have a list of our favourite offbeat social networks.
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This list, however, is the ultimate list of all: As many social networks as we can find. We’ve ranked them alphabetically picking the most popular to lead each letter.
How many are you on?
A
Advogato.org
Advogato, in existence since 2000, bills itself as “community site and social networking site for free software developers”.
See also:
Academia.edu: Academic research community
aNobii: Network for book lovers
aSmallWorld: Private network for the “sophisticated and influential”
AsianAvenue: Asian American community
Athlinks: Community for athletes
Audimated: Independent music community
B
Bebo
Launched in China, Bebo, an acronym for “Blog Early, Blog Often”, promises to “turn chaos into order by delivering real-time, chronological updates from all of your friends” social feeds.
See also:
Badoo: Facebook clone popular in Europe and Latin America
Biip.no Facebook clone popular in Norway
BlackPlanet For the African American community
Blauk: Anonymous microblogging
Blogster: Blogging community
Buzznet: Music and pop-culture community
C
Classmates
Launched in 1995, Classmates, allows users to “find old high school friends and browse the biggest collection of yearbooks on the web”. This is social networking at its most basic.
See also:
CafeMom: Online community for mothers
Care2: Green living and social activism community
CaringBridge: Blogging community for those with serious medical conditions
Cellufun: Mobile social game network
Cloob: Iranian social network
CouchSurfing: Global travellers network
CozyCot: Network for East and Southeast Asian women
Cross.tv: Christianity based network
Cyworld: South Korean social network
D
Douban
Chinese social network Douban, the 22nd most popular website in China according to Alexa internet, is noted for its large number of intellectuals who are eager to discuss social issues. However, fearing repercussions from authorities the owners have now started censoring it heavily.
See also:
DailyBooth: Photo-blogging community
delicious: Social bookmarking
deviantART: Art community
Disaboom: Online community for those living with a disability
Dol2day: German political network
DontStayIn: UK clubbing community
Draugiem.lv: Latvian social network
DXY.cn: Chinese community for health professionals
E
Elftown
Elftown describes itself as “the fantasy and science fiction community for artists, writers and hangarounds”. However, user SirWaka, explains why she uses it: “I use Elftown because it’s green”, whereas Calico Tower finds it to be the perfect site for her “because I’m a perverted, power-abusing fascist”.
See also:
Epernicus: Research scientists community
Eons: Baby boomers community
Experience Project: Connects people through shared “life experiences”
Exploroo: Travellers network
F
Facebook
If we must. Facebook believes that it “helps you connect and share with the people in your life”. However, when you Google “Facebook is”, the autocompletes go as follows, “is like” “is evil” “is like jail” “is down” and, “is blocked”.
See also:
Faceparty: UK party network
Faces: Adult social network
Fetlife: Adult social network
FilmAffinity: Film recommendation network
FledgeWing: University student entrepreneurial community
Flixster: Social movies
Flickr: Photo sharing
Focus: Business focused network
Fotki: Photo sharing
Fotolog: Photoblogging
Foursquare: Location based social network
Friends Reunited: Reunion network
Friendster: General social network
Frühstückstreff: German “breakfast club” social network
G
Google+
Only a few months old and still in beta testing, Google+ has roared up the social network charts and is now the fastest-growing social network ever.
See also:
Gaia Online: Anime and gaming network
GamerDNA: Computer and gaming network
Gather: Social, political, and cultural discussion community
Gays.com: Social network for LGBT community
Geni: Genealogy community
Gogoyoko: Music social network
Goodreads: Network for book lovers
Goodwizz: Matchmaking and personality games network
Google Buzz: General social network
GovLoop: Network for people in and around government
Grono.net: Polish social network
H
Habbo
Habbo, another service for teens has a tagline of “Habbo Hotel… make friends, chillax, get noticed!” Online friends, odd spelling, and online fame. What more could a teen ask for?
See also:
hi5: General social network
Hospitality Club: Travellers social network
Hotlist: Maps where Facebook and Twitter friends have checked in
HR.com: Social network for Human Resources professionals
Hub Culture: Knowledge sharing network
Hyves: Dutch social network
I
Ibibo
If you’re tired of being invited to join that friend’s Mafia gang or help hoe their imaginary farm — but can’t figure out how to block the games — Ibibo is your answer. Ibibo, owned by China’s Tencent, is a social network that focuses solely on social gaming.
See also:
Identi.ca: Microblog
Indaba Music: Music social network
IRC-Galleria: Finnish social network
italki.com: Language-based social network
InterNations: Online community for expatriates
Itsmy: Mobile community
iWiW: Hungarian social network
J
Jaiku
Jaiku, explains that its goal — as per the social network norm — is “to bring people closer together by enabling them to have conversations”. More than anything else, Jaiku is another Twitter. However, it’s Google’s Twitter. Yes, Jaiku is owned by Google.
See also:
As Jaiku would seem to be the only “J” social network, there is at least one way Google is winning the social-network game.
K
Kiwibox
A social “community” network for New Yorkers, Kiwibox knows its place, describing itself as “the other social network with online experience to find new friends”.
See also:
Kaixin001: Chinese social network
L
LinkedIn
The ultimate professional social networking site, LinkedIn, as of 2011, has 120-million members in “over 200 countries and territories”. However, the most interesting thing about this network is watching its stock-price drop since its launch on the stock markets in May.
See also:
Lafango: Online talent community
LaiBhaari: Marathi social network
Last.fm: Music community
LibraryThing: Network for book lovers
Lifeknot: General social network
LinkExpats: Online community for expatriates
Listography: List sharing network
LiveJournal: Blogging community
Livemocha: Language learning community
M
MySpace
The former King of social networking, which is now part owned by Justin Timberlake.
See also:
Makeoutclub: “Indie” social network
MEETin: General social network
Meetup: General social network
Mixi: Japanese social network
MocoSpace: Mobile community
Mubi : Video streaming social network
Multiply: General social network popular in Asia
Muxlim: Islam based social network
Mxit: Mobile community
MyAnimeList: Anime themed social community
MyHeritage: Family-oriented social network service
MyLife: Reunion network
My Opera: Community of Opera web browser users
N
NetLog
Marketed towards European youth, Netlog touts itself as “an online platform where users can keep in touch with and extend their social network”, which is “available in 40 languages and has more than 82-million members”.
See also:
Nasza-klasa: Polish social network
Nexopia: Canadian social network
O
Orkut
Orkut was launched by Google in 2004. However, as a result of its popularity in Latin America has been run by Google Brazil since 2008. Orkut lays claim to 66-million active users worldwide.
See also:
Odnoklassniki: Eastern-European social network
Open Diary: Blogging community
OUTeverywhere: Social network for LGBT community
P
PatientsLikeMe
A space for members to share amongst each other symptoms, conditions, treatments, and other information to monitor their health, PatientsLikeMe was named as one of the “15 Companies that Will Change the World” by Business 2.0 and CNN Money in 2007.
See also:
Passportstamp: Global travellers network
Partyflock: Dutch House and Electronic music network
Pingsta: Internet engineering social network
PureVolume: Independent music network
Playfire: Computer and gaming network
Playlist.com: Music network
Plurk: Microblog popular in Taiwan
Present.ly: Business microblog
Q
Qzone
With a reported 531-million users, Qzone is China’s first and largest social network. Most of its users are teens and young adults. Like Ibibo, Qzone is also owned by Tencent.
See also:
Quechup: General social network
R
Renren
Another Facebook clone, Renren is one of the most popular social networks in China. In January, Renren also went public on the New York Stock exchange raising U$743.4-million in the first day of trade.
See also:
Raptr: Video gaming network
Ravelry: Knitting social network
ResearchGate: Scientific researchers social network
Ryze: Entrepreneurial social network
S
Sonico
Founded in 2007, after competitors such as Orkut, Sonico claims to be the largest Latin-American social network laying claim to more than 50-million registered users.
See also:
ScienceStage: Social network for scientists
Scispace: Collaborative social network site for scientists
Second Life: Online virtual world
Shelfari: Network for book lovers
Sina Weibo: Chinese social network
Skyrock: French language social network
SocialLife: Private Brazilian social network
SocialVibe: Charity social network
SoundCloud: Music social network
Stickam: Live video streaming and chat.
StudiVZ: German-language social network
StumbleUpon: Website recommendations
T
Twitter
With its users generating 200-million tweets per day in only five years of operation, leading to a reported valuation of US$7-billion, those bursts of 140 characters are clearly not to be scoffed at.
See also:
Tagged: General social network
Talkbiznow: Business networking
Taltopia: Online artistic community
Taringa!: General social network
TeachStreet: Educational network
TermWiki: Global social learning network
TravBuddy: Global travellers network
Travellerspoint: Global travellers network
Trombi.com: French subsidiary of Classmates
Tuenti: Spanish social network
Tumblr: Microblog
U
Amazingly, there were no social networks Memeburn could find beginning with “U”.
V
Vkontakte
Vkontakte, is a yet another of the Eastern European Facebook copycats. Interestingly this one takes “copycat” to the next level with a direct copy of Facebook’s design. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
See also:
Vampirefreaks.com: Goth social network
Viadeo: Professional social network
W
WeeWorld
A (weird looking) avatar-based community for teens, with 50-million “WeeMees”, WeeWorld claims to have “successfully translated its iconic brand across multiple platforms”.
See also:
Wakoopa: Software and gaming network
WeOurFamily: General social network
Wer-kennt-wen: German social network
weRead: Network for book lovers
WiserEarth: Social justice and environmental movement network
WriteAPrisoner.com: Prisoner pen-pal network
X
Xanga
With no identifiable description beyond its blurb as a “blogging community” according to its Crunchbase profile, Xanga is a “is a free service which allows users to create their own video, audio and weblog” and is similar to MySpace, Friendster and Bebo. In other words, a good investment?
See also:
Xt3: Catholicism based social network
Y
Yammer
Tired of your workers “wasting” time on Facebook and Twitter? Tired of having to fend off friend requests from co-workers? For both groups, Yammer brings together all of a company’s employees inside a private and secure enterprise social network.
See also:
Yelp: Customer reviewer network
Z
Zoo.gr
Zoo, a Greek network with “900 000 different users each month”, according to its Facebook page (via the magic of Google Translate) is “the largest Greek web meeting point”.
See also:
Zooppa: Online talent community
If there’s any network we’ve missed that you know of, mention it in the comments.
