So, it seems that one of the biggest things on the Internet is social networking sites. Everyone seems to have one. Rather then tell you what I like and don’t like about them, I think I’ll provide you with some links to go visit them yourself.

Before we get started looking at social networking sites, let’s clearly define what a social networking site is. The term “social networking website” refers to a website that members can join where they will have a profile of interest, write and receive some type of commentary, and interact and relate with other profiles that are displayed in conjuction with that profile.

A social network is not a bulletin board, a forum, a mailing list, a BBS, a MUD/MOO, or a MMORPGS. Yes you can interact and meet new people and make friends, but they are NOT social networking sites. Hope this is clear.

Why do I think we need to look at social networking sites in conjunction with our church website? Well, for one thing, this is something that very cutting edge with technology and at the same time very popular among the teens-30′s group. But, just because it’s popular doesn’t mean we automatically do it. I think we consider this concept because fundamentally, the desire of the social networking sites is to build a community of like-minded individuals and connect them to each other. If we can further the Kingdom by creating an environment where people can interact with other people from our church, then not only are we building the church, but we are building the relationships that people have with each other in the church.

There are some negatives and some drawbacks to social networking sites, but what I want you to think about is what could we do with this idea and how could we incorporate this concept into our church website?

Okay, so let’s get to it!

Church Related

MyChurch – http://www.mychurch.org

Friends/Relationship Related sites

MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/

Friendster – http://www.friendster.com/

Cyworld – http://us.cyworld.com/main/index.php

Orkut – http://www.orkut.com

Xanga – http://www.xanga.com/

Meetup – http://www.meetup.com/

Business Related Sites

LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/

Racial Related Sites

BlackPlanet – http://www.blackplanet.com/

AsianAvenue – http://www.asianavenue.com/

MiGente – http://www.migente.com/

Blogging Related Sites

Livejournal.com – http://www.livejournal.com/

Vox – http://www.vox.com/

Mobile Related Sites

Dodgeball – http://www.dodgeball.com/

Video Related Sites

YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/

Photo Related Sites

Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/

Music Related Sites

last.fm – http://www.last.fm/

Life Goal/Purpose Related Sites

43things – http://www.43things.com/

Dating Related Sites

CrushSpot – http://www.crushspot.com/

Social Bookmarking and News Related Sites

del.icio.us – http://del.icio.us/

reddit – http://reddit.com/

Digg – http://digg.com/

Social Encyclopedia Related Sites

Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/

That’s it for now, I’ll talk to you later!