Sites like Bebo, MySpace, and Facebook aggregate people from all over the world - they're more about interest community than geographic community. Niche social-networking sites zooming in on narrower and narrower interests are popping up all over the place. Another trend is increasingly focused geographic community online. It has several forms: MySpace's sites for individual countries, … [Read more...] about Local social networking
international social networking
Online socializing in Lithuania & Russia
This isn't just another business story. Since I'm writing this in St. Petersburg, it's fun to see a news story about social networking in both Lithuania and Russia. Russian tech-news site CNews reports that Forticom, which operates Lithuanian social site One.lt, has acquired a 25% stake in Russian social-networking site Dnoklassniki.ru. CNews says that the Russian site's 4 million registered users … [Read more...] about Online socializing in Lithuania & Russia
German social networking
Social networking is happening pretty much wherever there's a Web, but the picture looks a little different in each country. Fresh comScore research found that 45% of Germany's 32.9 online people (14.8m) visited social-networking sites in July, the latest figure available. As for the where they socialize, the Top 10 sites were: MySpace (3.6 million), studiVZ (3.1m), jux (2.6m), Piczo (2m), … [Read more...] about German social networking
Facebook & MySpace in Oz
Social networking growth patterns in Australia makes for an interesting case study for parents looking for a bigger picture. MySpace has 3.8 million profiles in Australia, while Facebook has 141,000 Australian members. But Facebook grew by 273% in Australia between April and June, putting it in that country's top 5 online communities and "outpacing the industry leader," Australian IT cites Hitwise … [Read more...] about Facebook & MySpace in Oz
Important new study: Students on the social Web
In releasing its study "Creating & Connecting: Research & Guidelines on Online Social - and Educational - Networking," the National School Boards Association this week added some balance to the public discussion about safety on the social Web. The 10-page report is just as useful to parents as it is to educators. Conducted for the NSBA by Grunwald Associates, the study found that…These days US … [Read more...] about Important new study: Students on the social Web