Myspace And The Many Facets Of Other Social Networking Sites

The success of social networking sites like Blogger, Xanga and YouTube has given birth to a new era in Internet usage. A study by Nielson/NetRatings shows that the top social networking sites experienced a 47% growth in the past year with a whopping 367% growth for MySpace.

As with anything new you will have people who like it and people who don't. Some of the people who are a bit wary of this new technology include the Chicken Little's of our time afraid any advance in technology will harm our children. On the other hand, some people seem a little over joyous with the new technology, namely, the online peddlers of goods. They have seen an enormous rise in their profitability due to the explosive growth of these sites.

There are endless possibilities for those who wish to cash in on the various social networking sites. You can make as many business contacts, meet new friends, keep in touch with the old ones and earn money on the side. Not bad for something that is both enjoyable and which can be done on your own time.

While Facebook has made impressive strides to compete with the lightning growth of MySpace, it still has a way to go to take down the giant. However, most observers agree that Facebook's more controlled and deliberate growth will be an asset to them in the future. Could there be another social site that may controlled growth plan of it's own? Could there be one looking to specialize in a certain niche like business owners and online marketers.

Even though MySpace couldn't command a penny more that a $1 Billion from Google to buy a stake in their company (/sarcasm), it does bode well even for the smaller players in this industry. You may yet see some social networks set up for the benefit of their members, not just their owners.

MySpace boasts of achieving the 100 millionth account mark in August last year. It has over 300 million registered accounts as of December 18, 2007 and continues to attract 230,000 new account registrants on a daily basis. The efficacy of MySpace as a social networking site is evident with the existing profiles of some candidates for the 2008 US Presidential elections on MySpace.

Even though it seems like there is no limit to the growth of sites like Youtube and MySpace, it is always good to keep your eyes open for other start-ups that could just be a month or two away from the explosive growth of the other giants in the industry. More focused networking sites like GibLink could become the desired areas for likeminded people to gather and communicate.

The Internet is an open space of ideas and of sites that are operated by people who invest in them. Those who are meeting big opportunities at MySpace now are the very people who were with MySpace from its inception. You, too, can have this chance if you dare look at other sites. Who knows, it may be worth your time.