Social networking websites are the most popular and also the most competitive ones on the internet. To join the competition, perfspot.com was launched in March 2007.

It is almost like any social networking site where you can find old, lost friends, be in touch with your friends, upload videos and photos. It is a platform to share interests and favorite things.

Features

The users can register her for free and open an account. Users can customize their profile page, called the Perflife page, in terms of theme, background and color. Customizing a profile is easier on this site than MySpace. In your personal information, you can change the URL and so you can have your own webpage. The URL requires the username and for that you will have to check the availability of that name. There is a Refined User search which can display users from any specific area. Users can click on the Region section of the network in User search and add your region there.

At perflife, users can write blogs, upload birthday, party pictures. The Main section of perflife has the most dynamic content, full of activity. For the rest, there is an Extra section. There is an exhaustive list of the number of applications and games to choose from for your profile page.

Webmessenger 2 is the IM, which offers real time connectivity to the users which s so vital for a social networking site. Perfspot also has updates on music front; latest album reviews, music videos and users can see their favorite bands.

In 2008, Perfspot launched their new photo sharing feature which raised the number of visit for the site. Here, users can view photos in slide-show format. The photos are enlarged form regardless of the original size of uploaded photos. This feature is not available in other networking sites. Photo comments can be written in diverse color and fonts and not the usual plain text as in other sites. Spot is like tagging where you spot other Perfspot members in the photo and even those members are notified.

Perfrating is when users rate a friend’s photo. Initially the number of albums that could be displayed on the profile page used to be 3 now it has increased to 5.

Grapevine is another popular feature of this site which tells users about the latest news on their friend’s page. It updates information about pictures, groups that the friend has joined. The new version of grapevine has given it an uncluttered look. A filter option is also given so you can choose what newsfeed to view. Interest groups are a place to be in touch with like minded people. When any new member joins an interest group that you are a part of, you receive an indication on your perflife page.

There is a store where users can sell stuff online.

Tips and tricks

Through out the site, there are four types of security settings for everything like; for only me, for best friends, for friends and for everyone. You can secure your personal information. Perflife page privacy setting allows the users to choose what their friends and others can see and what they can not.

Newbie friendly rating

 With competition from Facebook and MySpace, it is difficult to overtake them in terms of popularity. The site will have to bring some freshness to it to attract more users. Our rating is 7 out of 10

Features

Anyone can become a member of deviantart by registering and they are called as deviants. Here artists can discuss and showcase their work. Any art piece or work is called as deviation here. Users or deviants have personal page with their chosen name or id on the URL. This page contains the personal information of the deviant. On their personal page, the featured deviant is the best work of the deviant. They have a gallery where they can drop other user’s work. The various art forms have been clubbed into categories like digital art, photography, traditional art, literature, skins, wallpapers, animation and cartoons etc. newly launched film category allows the users to upload videos also. Deviants can put other’s work in their favorites section. They can create any number of folders to categorize favorites. Collection is where a deviant can drop all the favorites deviations of other artists. It is on the user’s favourites page. Users can add other deviants to their watchlists which is called DeviantWatch. There are journals which are almost like blog where the user can express his thoughts or talk about his upcoming work. The site’s messaging network is called dAmn which is like chat.

Daily deviation is another feature on this site where a group chooses the some submissions for their extra ordinary presentation. Any deviant can offer suggestions by sending the particular link, to this group, featuring that deviation and with their comments.

Subscribed deviants can enjoy more privileges. They will have no advertisements on the personal page, customized service of their personal page. They can have access to Private forums. Presently, the work is on to provide a portfolio page to subscribed users which will give a more professional look. The users will be able to show their portfolio page to their prospective employers.

At deviantart Shop by paying 24.95 $ annual fee, users can sell their work which is printed on items like mugs, calendars, coasters, mouse pad etc. and they get some share of the earnings.

Sit back is deviantart’s latest feature. This slide show feature which user can see by clicking on the projector screen displays collection page, channels page, galleries, daily page and favourites. The site provides a tutorial and guide to help out the users in every possible way.

Tips and tricks        

Copyright issues can arise at such sites as these are very ambiguous topics. If you use someone’s work without taking their prior permission, then you are infringing on ones copyright. So the users are advised to use their creativity and imagination to produce authentic work. If the company finds your work infringing upon copyright of some other artist, the work will be deleted.

Newbie friendly rating

It is a very user friendly site with nicely compiled FAQ’s. This site gets a rating of 8 out of 10.

Plentyoffish.com is a free online dating service. The site was the creation of a man named Marcus, who by himself, has tried to establish the net’s largest online dating system. The site is fairly plain, as one would expect from a solo operation. Even so, its simplicity is welcomed by the new user.

Users can immediately begin browsing the thousands of profiles if they choose or register and complete their own profile.

Features

The registration process is simple. Users enter their email address and age and then have to type in a word box. Once that is complete, a 45-question user profile awaits which asks the standard questions posed by dating sites. Expect to answer things like “how valuable your friendships are,” “do you want to have kids” and “do you get angry easily.” The questionnaire takes about ten minutes to complete. Once you’re finished, you can return to the homepage to check your matches. Even in a remote location like where this writer lives, I found more than two dozen matches to my profile. If you’re interested in making contact with someone, you simply fill out an email form on the site and a message is sent to the person.

A section called “Chemistry” takes you directly to your closest matches on the site. Despite being called a “dating” site, you can find just about anything on Plentyoffish.com. Users can search for dating partners, someone to go on a trip with or someone to simply enjoy uncommitted sex with.

Tips & Tricks

The forums section is a can’t-miss. Dozens of subjects are discussed ranging from dating tips to sexual advice to success stories from the site. Since so many users frequent the forums, answers are given in a quick and friendly manner.

Another good idea is to click on the “needs” tab on the top right of the homepage. That will take you to a 100-question assessment gauging what you look for and need out of a relationship. It basically allows you to develop your profile and better hone in on matches.

Newbie Friendly Rating

This is a great site. It’s one of the rare Websites that claims to be totally free and actually is. Plentyoffish is as good, if not better, than pay sites like Eharmony and Match.com.

The site is very user-friendly. The profiles are easy to finish and getting started finding personal matches takes no longer than 15 minutes. We give Plentyoffish.com a Newbie Friendly Rating of 10.

Meebo.com is a user portal for all the popular instant messaging websites. The site provides users with a central location to log into IM sites like AOL, MSN, Yahoo and Google. The log in process is exceedingly simple and users can even centralize the process by registering a free Meebo user account. All told, Meebo provides chat rooms and IM service to over 35 million people around the world. The site prides itself on the fact that no downloads or installs are required to use the site. True to its word, Meebo.com is remarkably easy to use and friendly to the Newbie. Advertisements are virtually non-existent and the overall site experience is smooth and convenient.

Features

In addition to providing centralized access to the four major instant messaging components, Meebo offers its own chat room program as well, called Meebo Rooms. The registration process is free and easy to use. However, the Meebo chat room doesn’t really offer anything different than the four major providers. It’s a good chat device, but nothing unique.

Meebo Rooms offers users the opportunity to create and moderate your own private chat room where you can invite friends and watch over the proceedings.

Using the site is easy. The only requirement is that you have a preexisting username and password from the IM application you wish to use. Those can quickly be obtained from the homepage of each provider.

Logging in is exactly how it is on the home sites of each provider. Once logged on, the actually IM screen is similar to the brand it is using, if not an exact replica. From there, buddy lists and all the chat features you are accustomed to are at your fingertips.

Tips & Tricks

For the curious among us, be sure to check out the Meebo use sample from around the world. Click on the “About Us” tab at the top of the homepage. From there, look to the left of the screen to see a globe. Clicking on the icon providers users with a global look at Meebo use over the past 15 minutes.

If you’re in the mood to chat on a certain subject, you’ll want to check out the various Meebo Rooms where vibrant discussions on sports, music, relationships and school are just a click away.

Newbie Friendly Rating

Meebo.com is very easy for the beginning user. Once you have a username and password from an existing IM provider, you are good to go. Meebo is easy to understand and directions are clear and concise. We give Meebo.com a Newbie Friendly Rating of 10.

This is the most popular online social networking site in UK, New Zealand and Ireland. It allows users to share photos and videos, listen to music and staying connected. Launched in the year 2005, it is also very popular in USA. It s number three in popularity there just after myspace and facebook. This year in March, bebo was acquired by AOL. There are plans to expand bebo in various other languages like German and French, after the Polish version was launched recently. Not many know but bebo is an acronym for “Blog Early, Blog Often”

Features

Users can register for free at this site. Their profile may be public or private depending on the user’s preference. The customized background of the profile page is called Skin. Users can post blogs, connect with friends and stay connected to college friends. After registering you can share videos and photos, upload music and music albums. On the home menu, users can see who the recent visitors on his page were. They can see their friend’s updated pages in terms of any new videos or photos.  Bebo music, originally called bebo bands, permits bands to create profile and provides them a platform to showcase their music. It has the band member list, and their songs which can be clubbed together into albums. These songs may be added to any user’s playlist also.  Just last year, Bebo Authors was launched. Here authors can upload their chapters and get them evaluated. Books are not displayed on the profile page like bands. Groups were added to pages lately. Members have an option to choose and join a group which they relate to. These groups may be educational or just general.  

Bebo mobile allows the users to make changes in their profiles through heir mobile phones, upload photos using MMS and receive texts. Bebo nation has a virtual map and it allows the users to buy a ‘land’, in other words, pixels and they can put their picture or any other image of their choice on that area. If any other user clicks on that picture, he can visit your profile. The cost of a 10×10 pixel is $0.10!

Further there are a number of applications like ‘who likes you’ and MindJolt games for the users to join in.

Tips

It is imperative to choose a privacy option as soon as you begin because by default the ‘public’ option is saved. Bebo has three privacy options; public, private and fully private. Public profiles can be seen by anyone, private ones are accessible to friends and contacts. Fully private option limits the viewing to your direct friends only as these profiles are not part of any group. Bebo also allows the users to set the photos as private so that nobody can copy it. Bebo account is not for young children that are below thirteen years of age. Have only one bebo account as remembering passwords for many will be difficult and there are more chances of hacking.

Newbie friendly rating

With rivals like facebook, MySpace, tagged, bebo has still made a place for itself and the future looks brighter. Bebo gets our newbie rating of 9 on 10. as navigating through the site is a little difficult.

MySpace is one of the two biggest social networking sites. In MySpace a user creates a profile in order to become part of the social network. Through that profile the user can add friends, customize the profile, and stay connected with friends through comments, status updates, bulletins, etc. Since its founding in 2003 by Tom Anderson, MySpace has become extremely popular with teenagers and adults from all over the world. It is currently available in 15 languages and attracts 230,000 new accounts per day.

Features:

One of the great features of MySpace is the ability of the user to connect with old friends, current friends, and even make new friends. In MySpace this process is made very easy. There are lots of criteria in which you can base your search for friends on. Also, apart from people, you can also search for bands, movies, etc. MySpace revolves about what’s new every day, not only does it let you socialize with your friends, but also lets you interact with new movies and bands.

Now, a reason why MySpace’s popularity grew quickly is because you are able to customize your profile however you like in order to fit your personality. Yup, you can change the background, upload pictures and videos, add your favorite song to your profile, etc. You can do all of that whenever you want, as many times as you like. Best of all, it is not hard. After you sign up for MySpace you will be able to edit your information, and it is all very clear and easy to do.

Most importantly though, in my opinion, is how MySpace keeps you connected with the rest of the world. With MySpace you post your status (what you are currently doing), you can subscribe to a friend and receive updates on his/her activities, send bulletins which all of your friends will be able to see, MySpace also recently enabled an instant messenger system to chat with your friends if they are online at the same time, too, you can get text alerts to your cell phone, use the blog, forums, messages, etc…etc…The reality is that MySpace is full of cool features and the administration of MySpace works each day to continue improving the site.

Tips and Tricks:

In MySpace, the only part in which you need to know some tricks is when you customize your profile. MySpace does have certain features to allow you to customize your profile; however, they do not have all the layouts that you see while searching through your friends’ profiles. What they do is they search the web for layouts and then put the code of the layout in their profile. Don’t worry; it is all very easy, just continue reading. A good way to finding a good layout is by going to Google, and, for example if you like Coldplay, type “MySpace Coldplay layouts.” Most likely you will get tons of results. Search through them and see which one you like. After you decide on a layout all you have to do is copy and paste. Each layout has its own HTML code, and in order to put the layout in your profile you need to copy the whole code, go to the edit section of your profile, go to the “about me” section, paste the code and click save. That’s all! It is as simple as that. Now you got yourself a nice looking MySpace profile.

Newbie Friendly Rating:

Given MySpace’s user friendly interface, it’s easiness to sign up, and great ability to continuously keep you connected with what’s going on around you, it earns a rating of 9 out of 10. MySpace is very popular, and even though its opponent Facebook has grown very popular, too, MySpace continues to grow even more each day by providing a free, high-quality social network to millions all over the world.

This popular social networking site of the world started as an interactive site between the Ivy League schools in 2004. However now, facebook is open for anyone above thirteen years of age and is a rage with children and adults. The users can create their profile page and by using facebook people are able to connect to their friends, acquaintances, class mates and colleagues, online. The users can join any number of networks they prefer based on college, city, workplace or school thus giving them access to other people’s profiles that are also on these networks.

Features:

Many features have been added over a period of time to facebook to make it more users friendly and popular. Every profile page has a Wall to ‘post’ (write) comments on it. An unlimited number of photos and videos can be uploaded on your page which can be viewed by people on your network. The user can tag or label a photo if you have any of your facebook friends on in that photo. Pokes are generally sent to a person when you do not have anything to say but want the person to be reminded about you. A person can change his Status message to let people know the recent happenings in is life.

The news feed feature was added later on which updates the user about any changes and alerts them about forthcoming events. Recently facebook has come up with Chat which is almost like any instant messaging service. Users also have an option of sending gifts, which are, of course, virtual, to close friends and loved ones. And as recent as September 2008, facebook introduced Facebook beta design which has given the profile page a much cleaner look.

Facebook games like WarBook and SuperSnake are so popular with the users; they have taken social gaming to another level where users invite their friends and contacts to play with them.  

Tips and Tricks:

For regular and addicted facebook users, a facebook toolbar is a helpful aid as it will pop up notification regarding a new message, post, poke or any change in your friends profile page. Facebook profile can be customized by changing your privacy settings to limit people’s access to your personal information. You can have different settings for a different set of people.

The friends finder option is a great way to start on facebook to reach out to your lost friends. By linking the address book of the account you are holding, facebook, from that address list, can find friends which already are facebook users. People may be faking their identities on the site so for a happy and safe ‘facebooking’ one has to be very careful while posting personal information. In case of any obscene behavior and virtual abuse there is an option of report where you can lodge complain with facebook about that particular person or content.

Newbie Friendly rating:

Facebook is very interactive social site and with its umpteen applications one is bound to try some; making it a very popular destination online. Very user friendly, Facebook has got a rating of 9 on 10.