There have been hundreds in the relatively short history of social networks, but only a handful of them have managed to hold on to user's attention for any great length of time.
Social networks may have some questionable utility. When you peak in every once in a while, there's a lot of throwing sheep and chatting. However, there's a reason why there are so many and why companies like Google and Yahoo are eager to latch on to the trend with its own versions. What social networks offer is more humanity than anything else the internet currently provides. It creates our online social clouds and enables communication.
Today, it's one of the internet's top destinations. Social networks may have a short history, but it sure is a dramatic one.
Here are the top five social networks that have made social networks the monster they are now.
1. AOL -- Being the first, it gets the number one slot. In many ways AOL defined and attracted people to the internet for the first time, and by doing so set the tone for future social networks. AOL introduced online video, chatting and online profiles.
2. MySpace -- MySpace made social networks more than just a venue for online dating. Even better, it was a huge boon to emerging artists online. While the record industry is continuing to learn how to plug in a computer, artists who couldn't afford a web designer managed to get their concert dates and sample music online and attract users that way.
3. Facebook -- For meaningfully adding status messages, images, and applications to the mix.
4. Friendster - When friendster was on top, it was the way to find friends online. At Friendster's peak, the site was moving to a crawl straining to keep up with growth. At that time, Friendster was the butt of internet dating jokes, but it somehow proved it could be just a little bit more (if the page ever loaded).
5. my.barackobama.com -- Say what you want about the candidate, but the campaign managed to attract some great web developers to his cause. My.barackobama.com is exciting because it represents the first time a social network was developed behind a singular cause to organize and lead those who signed on. It's difficult to say whether its organizational tools have an effect on the polls, but our bet is we'll never see another political race without something like this ever again.
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