My blog feed passes by a captive audience of my Facebook friends every time I publish a new post. To many of us, Facebook is the first social network we became involved in and it’s the one we stay most active in, too. However, it doesn’t necessarily need to be this way; there are plenty of other social networks and utilities out there that provide great opportunities, as well. This post is intended for friends that might be unfamiliar with some of the other networks out there, but if you’re a seasoned pro, please chime in and add your own thoughts too!
If you enjoy keeping up with your friends and discovering new websites, videos, and photos through Facebook, here’s a list of four other networks you might like to take a look at. I’ve written up a short description of each and rated them, on a one to five scale, on ease of use, time commitment, and community friendliness from the perspective of a Facebook user.
One of the most popular networks out there, Twitter is essentially a distilled Facebook Status that continually asks the question, “What are you doing?” Twitter users answer this question in a variety of ways and in varying detail, ranging from giving simple descriptions of what was for dinner to transmitting the text of an entire novel. This utility might not seem too groundbreaking at first, but, as most of the community can attest to, it gets addictive, fast. Sign up for an account, update every once in a while, and get some friends on the service, and you’ll start spending much less time on Facebook.
