#dbest of social networking

Originally intended as a social networking site for Harvard students, it spread around to other colleges and universities before opening up to the public a few years back. Users can add and communicate with friends, keep a personal profile, and join networks and groups.

With billions of images hosted on their site, this is the go-to photo hosting website. Users can share photos, comment on each other’s work, and join groups with like interests.

Leading social network for movie buffs! Here users can share movie reviews, discover new movies, and meet others with similar tastes in films.

A location-based mobile social networking website combined with a fun game. Users “check-in” at different locations that they visit using their mobile device, and they receive points and “badges” in return.

The largest social network for readers in the world! Here users can keep track of what they’ve read and would like to read by adding books to their own personal library, recommend books to others, form book clubs, and start discussions.

A music-related social networking website which allows users to create and listen to their own custom radio stations and playlists, then share this with others. The site will make suggestions based on your interests.

All about professional networking! Here users can make “connections” instead of “friends,” finding potential business partners, post and respond to job listings, and start discussions with likeminded professionals.

Learn up to 35 languages online with this service, the world’s largest language learning community. Users learn languages via audio-visual lessons (similar to Rosetta Stone), and are mentored by their peers.

Event organization is what this site excels at. Users can search for others with similar interests, then plan offline “meetups” all over the world.

The most popular social networking website for a few years, until Facebook took over. Many people, especially musicians, continue to use it due to its highly customizable features.

With more than 100 million users worldwide, Twitter is the “next big thing,” a micro-blogging service which allows users to send and read “tweets,” messages limited to 140 characters. It can be used to quickly deliver news, follow trends, and chat with other users.

Over 30 million people access this site every month, looking for business reviews, events, special offers, and to chat with local “Yelpers.” It’s an easy way to connect with great local businesses.