3 Invites in a Week!

You know this is really weird... I have just started this blog and last week I had received 3 invites from 3 different people to add me as their friend on 3 different social networking sites. They are Facebook, hi5 and Friendster. Is this the Law of Attraction working or what???

Anyway, I have been thinking of joining Facebook for quite some time. Instead, one of my friends beat me to it! As for hi5, my account had been dormant for quite some time now. So now is a good time to reactivate it! As for Friendster, it has been my mainstay all this time. Till now, that is…

My next few posts will talk on some of these social networking platforms. We will see how it affects our lives for the better (hopefully, not for worse!).

Cheers!

What is Social Bookmarking?

The first time I heard about Social Bookmarking was at the World Internet Summit at Singapore. Curious, I took a look at some of the websites offering such functionality when I came back. It opened up to another slice of incredible Internet usability.

Whenever you come across some nifty website, you would bookmark it on the browser. The problem is you cannot take your browser with you (unless you are using a laptop). In fact, many browse the net from the office and home. So, when bookmarking from office, you won’t have the same bookmark available at home and vice versa.

Online bookmarking solves the problem. By storing your bookmarks online, you can access them from any PC anywhere. You will never lose them. That is not all! What makes Social Bookmarking interesting is you can share your bookmarks with anyone on the net (there is an option to make private bookmarks, if so desired). So people with similar interests can see what others are bookmarking. Usually, you would only bookmark sites that are of some value. The same can be said of other surfers. By looking at each other’s bookmarks, you cut down time looking for similar sites. You can save other members’ bookmarks under your online bookmarking account.

While you are at your bookmarking website, you can also see what other members are bookmarking on the fly (well, almost instant!). There are a lot of topics that are being bookmarked. Although you may not be looking for other topics, you may stumble upon some interesting bookmarks done by fellow members of the site.

On this blog, you see the following “Bookmark” button on the left sidebar.

When you click on it, a separate window appears to show the various online bookmarking websites. There are more than 30 such sites listed. So which is the best one? Well, such sites are flourishing and it is hard to say now which will be the best. However, you can actually store your bookmarks on multiple online bookmarking sites and share with different users from different parts of the world. For instance, Mister Wong is very strong in Europe. The site originated in Germany. Recently, they have started an English version for international users. As you can join groups and share links with others on Mister Wong, you can make new friends with similar interests! Now you know why it is called Social Bookmarking?

LegglessBird

My first foray into Social Networking

My first foray into Social Networking was in December 2004. That was when I joined the community of Friendster. I cannot remember how I got to know of Friendster. For a long time, my list of friends on Friendster can be counted on one hand. Currently, I still have very few people on my Friendster list. I know there are some members who have hundreds of so-called friends on their list. Bummer! Then again, I know that there are some who would just ask any Tom, Dick or Harry to add them to their friends list. And I wonder…

So what is actually Social Networking?

Firstly, are you on Friendster, MySpace, Tagged, Multiply, hi5?

Seen videos on YouTube, Grouper, VideoEgg, Dailymotion, Fliqz?

Shared photos on Flickr, Photobucket, Shutterfly, Ringo?

Spruced up your photos on Slide, RockYou, PictureTrail?

Online bookmarked on Digg, Del.icio.us, Magnolia, Mister Wong, Technorati?

If you are doing any of these, you have dabbled with the tools of Social Networking. If you have not, or maybe have not even heard some of the mentioned sites, then you are not alone. Social Networking websites are booming and new ones come up so fast that many of us don’t even know they exist! Social Networking Hub endeavors to enlighten on the in’s and out’s of this fast-growing phenomenon. Hopefully, none of us will be labeled a Social Networking Dummy out there.

In future posts, we will look at the different categories of Social Networking websites out there. Learn how to take advantage of them to track down old friends, make new ones, pursue a hobby, keep up-to-date and be in the in-group.

Perhaps your opening line next time would be, “So, what is your favorite online pastime? Blogging, podcasting or online bookmarking?”

Cheers!

Leggless Bird