facebook is #1

      Top Ten Reviews, a website that claims to "do the research so you don't have to," rated the top ten social networking websites. They claimed Facebook was number one, while MySpace took second, and Bebo third. Some others on the list were Friendster, hi5, and orkut. This website gave important information about each social networking site, and even rated dozens of features for each site. 

The review stated the minimum age to join, which ranged between 13 and 18, and the percentage of users under 18, which ranged from 4% - 54% (Bebo.com). Although I have not visited each of these sites, it would be interesting to know why some sites require you to be 18, while others only require a 13-year age minimum. 

         The review also indicated what features were included on the websites and which were not. They looked at profiles (i.e. photos, url, friends), security (i.e. privacy, block users, report abuse), networking (i.e.  instant messaging, groups, mail), search (i.e. by name, by keyword, browse), and support (i.e. FAQ, user forums). Some of the features that were incorporated into all of the the top ten sites were an international community, photos, post comments, friends, groups, privacy, blocking, and reporting abuse. These seem to be the most basic standards for a social networking website. I was surprised at the fact that not every site was multi-lingual, had mail, or instant messaging. And, while every site had groups, you could not necessarily create your own group. 

          After looking at the article, I'm tempted to check out the websites for myself. I'll let you know what I find next week in class! To check out the article for yourself, click here.