Ever want a social network that serves your interest or occupation? MySpace is great for keeping in touch with that girl you met while partying on spring break, and Facebook will keep you posted on how your best friend from high school is doing, but how about meeting others in the same social niches as you? A recent slew of specifically targeted sites make it possible to network with others who share the same job, the same hobby, or the same geographic region.
"For example, let's say that you want to play with your old band, but the band members have moved on and now live in different cities. So use jamNOW to get together," advises the User's Manual for jamNOW, a networking site for musicians. The site is based on a standalone application which connects to the site's server to put you in touch with other musicians. You and your friends can enter a virtual room where the input from an instrument you have connected to your computer mixes with your friends' audio, allowing each of you to hear it as if you were playing in the same location. The software allows for other users to join the room as an audience, and for your music to be broadcast live on the Internet.
In a previous post, I talked about PilotShareTheRide.com, but there are sites for every mode of transportation. Are you in the trucking business, an aspiring trucker or just living vicariously? Layover.com's myLayover provides you with a community of your own. Layover, a job hunting site for truckers, has just launched a BETA version of its social network which allows you to get updates on weather, licensing and training requirements, and share tips with other truckers. It also offers all the standard social network features such as profiles, photo albums, blogs and video content so you're never bored on the road.
If you're looking for a more conventional past-time, there are also plenty of sites for you. CarSpace caters specifically to automotive enthusiasts and people looking to buy or sell cars while Advogato, a veteran of online communities, serves those working in free and open-source software. MyChurch, a site for Christians modeled on Facebook and MySpace, even allows churches to collect their tithes from members online. There is also Cake Financial, designed for investors. The site links to your brokerage accounts, tracks your performance, and lets you monitor trends as well as sending you alerts of your friends' trading activity.
Looking change the world? Care2 provides a forum for those supporting environmental and social causes. It is designed to facilitate activism. The site has a click-to-donate feature, as well as Earth-friendly shopping, online petitions and a healthy living section, in addition to standard fare expected from a social site.
Perhaps you feel you need a more exclusive experience. If you can get in, sites like aSmallWorld and Diamond Lounge allow you to hobnob with the social elite. While neither explicitly states that net worth is a requirement, each one is invitation only and those are hard to come by. Diamond Lounge charges a $60 per month membership fee, and the rules are akin to a country club (the sites are actively patrolled to prevent undesirable individuals and harassment). aSmallWorld, for example, allows just 15% of its members to invite newbies. Diamond Lounge has 5,000 applications pending from billionaires, professional athletes and members of the film industry. In the end, though, they'll only take 500.
3 comments:
There should be a "The Social Creature"-specific social network.
Little-Known Fact: MySpace was actually started by Ski for Ski and his friends.
Hey!
Your mission on mymission2 is awesome. I was checking out rhymezone and found a website called disaboom.com. It's a dating site for people with physical disabilities. Thought that was kind of interesting.
Keep posting!
.:|| brie aleida ||:.
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