Original post – 07.26.2006

If you have not heard of the concept of online social communities, get on board now because it here to stay. The web continues to evolve with the popularity of several new sites and is leading to what some call it, the resurgance of the dotcom era. Obviously, the top site has been myspace.com which has been extremely popular with the youngsters online. According to metrics company Hitwise, users on myspace alone are gobbling up 4.5% of all US web visits with 83 million visitors as of July of 2006. That amazing for just one web site out of the gazillions out there. But, several new sites have risen up on the demand for a more connected experience in today’s online environment. To meet and connect with people there are some excellent avenues like Myspace (of course), Friendster, Facebook, Orkut, Live Journal, AirTroductions, Couplets, reunion.com, Linkedin, Ryze, tribe.net, and Plaxo. If your focus online is sharing content and watching cool stuff you like online then try visiting Flickr, Zoto, Grouper, YouTube, Buzznet, Bubbleshare, Filmloop, Phanfare, SmuMug, Photobucket, Spout, LibraryThing, Mercora, The mom network, Peer trainer, del.icio.us, voeh.com, reddit.com, Digg, ma.gnolia.com, Newsvine, and Furl.net.

All these sites will allow you to get out online and make connections with people and share information in an incredibly effective manner. Finally the web is starting to show its true potiential for connecting users as it was orignially built for.