Thursday, March 1, 2007
Link Building 101
I found a great resource on how to build links for your site. Check it out! It helped me a lot.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Social Networking Sites
A brief history of social networking from wikipedia.org
The first social networking website was Classmates.com, which began in 1995 and used the Old Boy Network method of social networking. Other sites followed, including SixDegrees.com, which began in 1997 using the Web of Contacts model. The year 1999 saw the development of two competing models of social networking, the Circle of Trust developed by Epinions and utilised by Ciao.com, Dooyoo and ToLuna and the Circle of Friends developed by Jonathan Bishop, which was utilised on a number of regional UK sites between 1999 and 2001 and flourished with the advent of a website called Friendster in 2002. This is now one of the most dominant methods of social networking in virtual communities, perhaps for the reason that it gives the user control rather than being computer controlled. There were over 50 social networking sites using the Circle of Friends in 2005 when one such online community, MySpace, was getting more page views than Google. [4] Google has a social network called Orkut, launched in 2004. Social networking began to be seen as a component of internet strategy at around the same time: in March 2005 Yahoo launched Yahoo! 360°, their entry into the field, and in July 2005 News Corporation bought Circle of Friends-based MySpace [5] followed by ITV buying Old-Boys Network-based Friends Reunited in December that year [6]. It is estimated that combined there are now over 200 social networking sites using these existing and emerging social networking models.
I found here a complete list of social networking sites.
The first social networking website was Classmates.com, which began in 1995 and used the Old Boy Network method of social networking. Other sites followed, including SixDegrees.com, which began in 1997 using the Web of Contacts model. The year 1999 saw the development of two competing models of social networking, the Circle of Trust developed by Epinions and utilised by Ciao.com, Dooyoo and ToLuna and the Circle of Friends developed by Jonathan Bishop, which was utilised on a number of regional UK sites between 1999 and 2001 and flourished with the advent of a website called Friendster in 2002. This is now one of the most dominant methods of social networking in virtual communities, perhaps for the reason that it gives the user control rather than being computer controlled. There were over 50 social networking sites using the Circle of Friends in 2005 when one such online community, MySpace, was getting more page views than Google. [4] Google has a social network called Orkut, launched in 2004. Social networking began to be seen as a component of internet strategy at around the same time: in March 2005 Yahoo launched Yahoo! 360°, their entry into the field, and in July 2005 News Corporation bought Circle of Friends-based MySpace [5] followed by ITV buying Old-Boys Network-based Friends Reunited in December that year [6]. It is estimated that combined there are now over 200 social networking sites using these existing and emerging social networking models.
I found here a complete list of social networking sites.
Friday, February 23, 2007
The Best Social Bookmarking Sites
What are social bookmarking sites? Basically, these are sites that allow users to post their favorite sites, using tags (or keywords) to categorize and organize them; then other users can take these bookmarks and add them to their own collection or share them with even more users. Here are some of my favorite social bookmarking sites that I use every single day.
1) del.icio.us
del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site that has rapidly taken off even more in popularity since being purchased by Yahoo. I use del.icio.us probably the most out of all these top picks, particularly to post interesting sites that I've found around the Web. I also subscribe to quite a few del.icio.us tags, such as popular and reference, and I get all the sites tagged with these keywords in my RSS reader of choice, Bloglines.
2) Digg.com
Digg is social bookmarking and social networking gone a little crazy due to the fact that anyone can submit a Digg (site), and then anyone can comment on those same Diggs. For me the most interesting feature of Digg has to actually be the comments on the sites and stories, since the Digg community is not shy about letting folks know how they feel about a particular Digg. Primarily focussed on geeky, technology-type items.
3) Listible
Listible hasn't been around very long, but already it's one of my must-visit sites. Probably because I have a weird thing for lists. Anyone can start a list about pretty much anything; I've seen lists for Firefox extensions, TV theme songs, and much more. Listible users can rate the items on the list and add comments.
4) Furl
Furl, a service of LookSmart, gives users the ability to save copies of any Web page, search within your own personal archive of Web pages, and share what you find. People use Furl to create their own personal shopping lists, real estate directories, job searches, student research papers, etc. This may just sound like a fancy way of saying bookmarks; but the thing about Furl is that you can access it from any computer, which means that your Favorites will go with you.
5) Yahoo My Web 2.0 Beta
Yahoo My Web 2.0 is a social search engine, which means that people and search technology are working together to create both better searches and a better search experience. From the site: "What if you could tap into a directory of favorite web content bookmarked by thousands of people? And what if that content was organized so that you could browse through it by keyword or instantly search to find content on a particular subject?" It's a great way to network and bookmark at the same time.
6) Flickr
Flickr is a social bookmarking and social networking site with a twist: it's all about photos. Users can upload and tag their favorite photos, then other users can bookmark those photos as favorites and share them with even more people. You can also comment on individual photos and share why you like (or dislike) that image.
7) Slashdot
Slashdot is the original social bookmarking site. Slashdotters can submit stories or links they find interesting and then users comment on them (usually the comments are extremely active). The only drawback of Slashdot is that stories and sites have to be pre-approved; this has actually driven a lot of very fervent Slashdot users to other social bookmark sites such as Digg.
8) YouTube
YouTube is another social bookmarking site with a twist; it's all about videos. Users upload their favorite videos and their fellow YouTube users can comment, pass these videos on around the Web, or paste them on their Web sites or blogs. YouTube is a great way to find popular homemade (mostly) videos.
9) Simpy
Simpy is a social bookmarking site that allows users to "save, tag and search your own bookmarks and notes or browse and search other users' links and tags." There's a lot of technology-related stuff here but then again, there's also a lot of very eclectic links on here as well.
10) Popurls.com
Popurls.com is one of my must-read sites every day. Popurls is a lovely conglomeration of about 10 different social bookmarking sites, some of which I've already mentioned in this list. Popurls is a great way to get all your potential bookmarks in one place.
source: http://websearch.about.com/od/bestwebsites/tp/freebookmarks.htm
2) Digg.com
Digg is social bookmarking and social networking gone a little crazy due to the fact that anyone can submit a Digg (site), and then anyone can comment on those same Diggs. For me the most interesting feature of Digg has to actually be the comments on the sites and stories, since the Digg community is not shy about letting folks know how they feel about a particular Digg. Primarily focussed on geeky, technology-type items.
3) Listible
Listible hasn't been around very long, but already it's one of my must-visit sites. Probably because I have a weird thing for lists. Anyone can start a list about pretty much anything; I've seen lists for Firefox extensions, TV theme songs, and much more. Listible users can rate the items on the list and add comments.
4) Furl
Furl, a service of LookSmart, gives users the ability to save copies of any Web page, search within your own personal archive of Web pages, and share what you find. People use Furl to create their own personal shopping lists, real estate directories, job searches, student research papers, etc. This may just sound like a fancy way of saying bookmarks; but the thing about Furl is that you can access it from any computer, which means that your Favorites will go with you.
5) Yahoo My Web 2.0 Beta
Yahoo My Web 2.0 is a social search engine, which means that people and search technology are working together to create both better searches and a better search experience. From the site: "What if you could tap into a directory of favorite web content bookmarked by thousands of people? And what if that content was organized so that you could browse through it by keyword or instantly search to find content on a particular subject?" It's a great way to network and bookmark at the same time.
6) Flickr
Flickr is a social bookmarking and social networking site with a twist: it's all about photos. Users can upload and tag their favorite photos, then other users can bookmark those photos as favorites and share them with even more people. You can also comment on individual photos and share why you like (or dislike) that image.
7) Slashdot
Slashdot is the original social bookmarking site. Slashdotters can submit stories or links they find interesting and then users comment on them (usually the comments are extremely active). The only drawback of Slashdot is that stories and sites have to be pre-approved; this has actually driven a lot of very fervent Slashdot users to other social bookmark sites such as Digg.
8) YouTube
YouTube is another social bookmarking site with a twist; it's all about videos. Users upload their favorite videos and their fellow YouTube users can comment, pass these videos on around the Web, or paste them on their Web sites or blogs. YouTube is a great way to find popular homemade (mostly) videos.
9) Simpy
Simpy is a social bookmarking site that allows users to "save, tag and search your own bookmarks and notes or browse and search other users' links and tags." There's a lot of technology-related stuff here but then again, there's also a lot of very eclectic links on here as well.
10) Popurls.com
Popurls.com is one of my must-read sites every day. Popurls is a lovely conglomeration of about 10 different social bookmarking sites, some of which I've already mentioned in this list. Popurls is a great way to get all your potential bookmarks in one place.
source: http://websearch.about.com/od/bestwebsites/tp/freebookmarks.htm
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