With so many new social networks popping up, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. I am so sick of Myspace and Facebook. Blah, blah, blah, that’s all I ever hear about. Good thing I did my homework and checked out the smaller networks, which are a lot more niche. They can often cater to your more specific needs; in my case I have several of those. Plus, with so many aggregator sites out there, it’s not impossible to have specific networks for each purpose. I think in this case, more is…well, more.

With the increase of Blackberries, iPhones, and other advanced phones with internet capabilities many social networks are going mobile. Such a site is Whrrl.com, which allows you to aggregate information as you visit different places in your real life. Basically, it is a location review service, a map mashup, and a social network all rolled into one convenient service. It’s handy when you’re already out and about and decide you’d like to go somewhere new. You can do a search for a new restaurant or movie theater based on your location, and then filter search results based on ratings, users, activity type, price, and hours of operation. The reason it has a social network feature is so that you can tap into your trusted network of friends for advice before searching outside sources.

If you like the idea of Whrrl, then you might also want to check out Rummble.com, which advertises itself as a personalized travel guide written for you by your friends, and all of their friends. Rummble keeps your friends informed of your whereabouts and who’s nearby, so it makes it easy to make plans with your friends. Rummble can be accessed on your home computer, or your mobile device.

Check out Socialight.com to communicate what and when you are doing an activity through sticky notes you can post on other social networks and blogs.

If you’re a savvy consumer, then you might want check out TrustedOpinion.com which is an intelligent online platform for sharing ratings and recommendations between trusted users, who provide real personal recommendations. It’s a great social network for people who shop online a lot and are skeptical about a purchase. It’s also helpful if you just want to get a good movie recommendation, or want to try a new restaurant. The social network feature, allows you to trust the recommendations because you know the people giving them out.

So, keep your trendy MySpace account, but venture out there and check out the more boutique sites that can fulfill your specific needs.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 7:16 pm and is filed under Where Would I Be Without Friends and Family?... A Vacat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.