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Service Name: MySpace
Description: Although I do use MySpace more than others I do have to be honest about a couple of things. Most of the people that join this community do it for the sole purpose of hooking up and think that every one else is looking for the same thing. I recommend to keep your profile private to keep certain people out. Another issue are the Internet marketers that are always trying to spam you. Marketers have found a way to send you a bogus friend request and when you accept, you are actually accepting another account they have as your friend. Usually the account that is added to your friend's list is an account they use to spam you.
Customization allowed:Yes, you can pretty much do what you want with your page. This is the biggest advantage they have over other social networks. As long as you know CSS there is no limit.
URL: www.myspace.com
Fee: Free
Ease of use: Finding your way around is easy. Now, if you don't know what CODE is you might have a problem customizing your page. They call CODE, what we call Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). For me, it's very simple because I'm familiar with CSS and HTML but I know for those who don't have the same expertise it takes several times messing up your page before you get the hang of it. Now, there are a lot of sites that create free layouts but again you need to know where to put that CODE and how to manipulate the formatting.
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Service Name: Facebook
Description: They call this one the high class social network and I can see why. This service started off for college students only and believe it or not it kept it's content and look very clean. And even now that they have opened their doors to everyone, it remains pretty clean.
Customization allowed: Not much. You can move areas around but not change the look. You also have the option to add different applications which are like widgets that you can use to interact with your friends but that's it.
URL: www.facebook.com
Fee: Free
Ease of use: I personally think this one is harder to get use it. This could be because it's so different from the other social networks, everything you add to your page is an application. Your page can get messy if you add too many applications but these are a great way to interact with others.
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Service Name: HI5
Description: Very similar features to MySpace such as discussion board, forums, groups, chat, photo sharing, journal, etc.... This seems to be more popular in other countries.
Customization allowed: Yes, they have skins for your page and you can also create your own. The good thing is that even though you can create your own skin, you don't need to know CSS.
URL: www.hi5.com
Fee: Free
Ease of use: Very easy.
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Service Name: Xanga
Description: This one was just upgraded and I like it much better. It's still missing some features that other social networks offer. One thing I really like is that almost everything is accessed through the links on the left side of your page. To me it's much easier.
Customization allowed: With the new upgrade you can now use themes, modify the themes with a couple of clicks or customize the CSS.
URL: www.xanga.com
Fee: Free
Ease of use: Easy, and it's in-line with HI5 when it comes to navigation and updating your page.
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Service Name: MySpace Hispano
Description: This is the latin version of MySpace and the same that I mentioned about the kind of people that join MySpace applies here. It also has very similar features such as discussion board, forums, groups, chat, photo sharing, etc..
Customization allowed: Yes, but not as much as other social networks. You have the option to change the color scheme and you don't need to know CSS to personalize your page.
URL: www.myspacehispano.com
Fee: Free
Ease of use: It's in-line with other social networks.
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Service Name: MyLot
Description: This is very similar to the MySpace, Facebook and Hi5 sites but with the exception that you get paid for your contributions.
Customization allowed: You can customize the color schemes and personalize the information that is displayed on your page with topics of your interest.
URL: http://www.mylot.com/?ref=cmedina
Fee: Free
Ease of use: This one is probably simpler than the rest of the social networks because you are only customizing the colors. There is no need to mess with the CSS code like in MySpace or add applications like in Facebook.
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Service Name: Ning
Description: You can create your own social network allowing your members to have their page in which they can share pictures and videos, have discussion, publish blog post, and create groups within your community.
Customization allowed: Yes, you can customize the look and feel of your community plus choose to add or hide features.
URL: www.ning.com
Fee: They offer a free account which displays Google ads, but for $20 a month you can run ads yourself and block their ads. They also charge extra for having your own domain, more storage space and to remove the Ning promotional links.
Ease of use: It's very easy to use, I created a community for my family in less than 30 minutes and that was with some customization, and adding some pictures and videos.
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Service Name: Groupsite formerly know as CollectiveX
Description: You can create your own group site or community very similar to Ning but it has less features.
Customization allowed: Yes.
URL: www.groupsite.com
Fee: They offer 3 types of accounts, the free account includes calendar, discussion board, file sharing, member profiles, email blast and a couple of other things. Then they have the premium account which is a one time fee of $79 and you can customize the look and feel, then they charge extra a month for more storage space, your own domain, etc... They also have the Enterprise account which allows you to create unlimited number of communities and more features but the price is not disclosed to the public.
Ease of use: Very simple, maybe even easier than Ning but again it doesn't have the same amount of features.
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