What They Are Good For
Facebook
The ultimate Yellow Book. Great for keeping in touch with people who are crap at keeping in touch, managing events, prying in the lives of those you haven't seen in decades, and moaning about the latest security fiasco that is on the brink of pushing you to delete your account. I have a group set up exclusively for my family and I belong to another one dedicated to the tower block I grew up in Brasil in the 80s. Facebook reminds me all the time of how old I am.
Twitter
is for chatter, for jokes, for self-promotion, for peeking in the lives of celebrities, for following natural disasters and revolutions, for wasting time. I confess that I'm one of those people who dissed it (here on LJ) and promised to never have an account, but that's because I didn't "get it". It's an amazing tool in my line of work (promoting the arts) and I've actually made a few friends through it (though I haven't met them in real life yet.) I use my account to practice my (bad) French because I figured 140 characters is doable. Surprisingly, some of my french followers don't seem to mind!
Flickr
The place to be for photographers or those who love photography. It is possible to use it as a social network though interaction is very limited. I find it useful for my work (again) as well as helping promote my mother's guesthouse. It's a nice site to use alongside others (blogs, FB, Twitter), and to check out after a large event attended by many camera-wielding people (gigs, festivals, etc).
YouTube
Good for keeping up with the world of pop, comedy (intentional and otherwise), games and a whole lot more. I can't be bothered with video commenting but I think some people are deeply immeshed there, also using video responses to react to what they have seen. Like Flickr, good when used alongside other social networks though it bugs me that most music videos can't be embedded. Silly record labels.
Vimeo
Like YouTube, but slicker. The alternative for iPad owners since their tablets don't play YouTube and other flash-based stuff (because of Apple's hissy fit with Adobe). Lots of great short films can be found here though not much else.
Google+
I worry for Google. They are trying so hopelessly to be the next Facebook but... I'm not sure it's working. They are like that party guest who goes on and on about the latest gadget they bought to a decreasing circle of interested ears. Google Buzz and Google Wave tanked; Google+ is doing remotely better, but only because of the novelty factor. What exacty are they offering that's different from the other social networks? Little tweaks to a service are not enough: you need the next paradigm shift to attract the world's attention. Google+ ain't that. I like its structure though and how smoothly/easily it runs. I use it for posting music videos from the 80s. The idea of circles has meant that a lot of people treat it like a mixture of Facebook (inner sanctums) with Twitter (following strangers). It might take off if celebrities adhere.
Orkut
This is another social network owned by Google that hardly anyone knows about... except for brasilians. It's MASSIVE in Brasil, to the point of even the elderly and babies being on it. The Portuguese language has now a word - orkutizacao - which means "turning something into Orkut; turning chavvy; appealing to the lowest-common denominator." Everyone who is "cool" in Brasil has now switched to Facebook (especially - ironically enough - after The Social Network came out) and now there's constant moaning in my FB feed on how the "orkutizacao" of Facebook is just round the corner. Orkut is PERFECT for downloading episodes of brasilian soaps and American TV shows - there are tons of communities dedicated to that.
Blogger
once competed with LJ for the attention of writers. I think those days are over. Some people who have a niche or angle to their blog, and have been with Blogger from the start, are still there, but most have now moved on to Wordpress. They've done some changes to it recently which has improved functionality, and they have introduced the mosaic viewing mode to make your blog look more like a Tumblr account (worried much?), but there's nothing really special about it otherwise.
Wordpress
A lot of writers and services use this; it's a pretty good system and has a free statistics counter that is quite addictive (I'm fascinated by what people type in search engines to reach my blogs.) It's a little bit clunky when you are first trying to set up your blog, but you eventually get the hang of things. Commenting is decent though nothing like Livejournal in its possibilities. I used to have a blog in Portuguese here but I got swamped with evangelical Christians when I wrote a short story about a preacher seduced by a gay angel. I deactivated my blog and moved to...
Tumblr
The fastest growing social network in my opinion. Very young-centred, very image based, but some interesting organisations are already there (The New Yorker, Discovery, Newsweek) providing good text too. Very limited when it comes to commenting (you need a Disqus account) but maybe that's something still to be developed (or maybe the service's users just don't care?) It reminds me a lot of LJ's early years, when people posted tons of quizzes and cat photos. Those young'uns from ten years ago grew up and got themselves Wordpress accounts; their baby siblings are now all over Tumblr.
Dreamwidth
If a tree falls in the woods and there is nobody around, does it make a sound?
Livejournal
I've come to the conclusion that LJ is one of the best social networks out there. Its main strength are the deeply personal stories shared here - whether they are in big communities like the Ladies Loos or in safely secured posts. When you have those people on your friends list, you are rewarded with some of the best writing available online. LJ has also been getting better over the years - listening to its users (unlike Facebook and Google), and sheding all those people that used to only post quizzes and photos of cats (presumably moved on to Facebook.) LJ is also very good at creating friendships: I've lost count of how many people I've met here who have gone on to become very good friends of mine. Can users in Blogger, Wordpress, etc, claim as many online friends that are meaningful? Sure, there are some hiccups, it's not as popular as it used to be and it seems to be the Russian version of Orkut, but I think it's still a worthwhile site. It may be clunky and as relevant as Woolsworth but I still like it.
I've decided to post at least once a day on LJ from now on, even if it's just an embeded video, to show my appreciation for all those times years ago when it saved me from boredom in the office. I don't want to go anywhere else with my mundane posts about wine stains on the carpet. I want to stay here.
The ultimate Yellow Book. Great for keeping in touch with people who are crap at keeping in touch, managing events, prying in the lives of those you haven't seen in decades, and moaning about the latest security fiasco that is on the brink of pushing you to delete your account. I have a group set up exclusively for my family and I belong to another one dedicated to the tower block I grew up in Brasil in the 80s. Facebook reminds me all the time of how old I am.
is for chatter, for jokes, for self-promotion, for peeking in the lives of celebrities, for following natural disasters and revolutions, for wasting time. I confess that I'm one of those people who dissed it (here on LJ) and promised to never have an account, but that's because I didn't "get it". It's an amazing tool in my line of work (promoting the arts) and I've actually made a few friends through it (though I haven't met them in real life yet.) I use my account to practice my (bad) French because I figured 140 characters is doable. Surprisingly, some of my french followers don't seem to mind!
Flickr
The place to be for photographers or those who love photography. It is possible to use it as a social network though interaction is very limited. I find it useful for my work (again) as well as helping promote my mother's guesthouse. It's a nice site to use alongside others (blogs, FB, Twitter), and to check out after a large event attended by many camera-wielding people (gigs, festivals, etc).
YouTube
Good for keeping up with the world of pop, comedy (intentional and otherwise), games and a whole lot more. I can't be bothered with video commenting but I think some people are deeply immeshed there, also using video responses to react to what they have seen. Like Flickr, good when used alongside other social networks though it bugs me that most music videos can't be embedded. Silly record labels.
Vimeo
Like YouTube, but slicker. The alternative for iPad owners since their tablets don't play YouTube and other flash-based stuff (because of Apple's hissy fit with Adobe). Lots of great short films can be found here though not much else.
Google+
I worry for Google. They are trying so hopelessly to be the next Facebook but... I'm not sure it's working. They are like that party guest who goes on and on about the latest gadget they bought to a decreasing circle of interested ears. Google Buzz and Google Wave tanked; Google+ is doing remotely better, but only because of the novelty factor. What exacty are they offering that's different from the other social networks? Little tweaks to a service are not enough: you need the next paradigm shift to attract the world's attention. Google+ ain't that. I like its structure though and how smoothly/easily it runs. I use it for posting music videos from the 80s. The idea of circles has meant that a lot of people treat it like a mixture of Facebook (inner sanctums) with Twitter (following strangers). It might take off if celebrities adhere.
Orkut
This is another social network owned by Google that hardly anyone knows about... except for brasilians. It's MASSIVE in Brasil, to the point of even the elderly and babies being on it. The Portuguese language has now a word - orkutizacao - which means "turning something into Orkut; turning chavvy; appealing to the lowest-common denominator." Everyone who is "cool" in Brasil has now switched to Facebook (especially - ironically enough - after The Social Network came out) and now there's constant moaning in my FB feed on how the "orkutizacao" of Facebook is just round the corner. Orkut is PERFECT for downloading episodes of brasilian soaps and American TV shows - there are tons of communities dedicated to that.
Blogger
once competed with LJ for the attention of writers. I think those days are over. Some people who have a niche or angle to their blog, and have been with Blogger from the start, are still there, but most have now moved on to Wordpress. They've done some changes to it recently which has improved functionality, and they have introduced the mosaic viewing mode to make your blog look more like a Tumblr account (worried much?), but there's nothing really special about it otherwise.
Wordpress
A lot of writers and services use this; it's a pretty good system and has a free statistics counter that is quite addictive (I'm fascinated by what people type in search engines to reach my blogs.) It's a little bit clunky when you are first trying to set up your blog, but you eventually get the hang of things. Commenting is decent though nothing like Livejournal in its possibilities. I used to have a blog in Portuguese here but I got swamped with evangelical Christians when I wrote a short story about a preacher seduced by a gay angel. I deactivated my blog and moved to...
Tumblr
The fastest growing social network in my opinion. Very young-centred, very image based, but some interesting organisations are already there (The New Yorker, Discovery, Newsweek) providing good text too. Very limited when it comes to commenting (you need a Disqus account) but maybe that's something still to be developed (or maybe the service's users just don't care?) It reminds me a lot of LJ's early years, when people posted tons of quizzes and cat photos. Those young'uns from ten years ago grew up and got themselves Wordpress accounts; their baby siblings are now all over Tumblr.
Dreamwidth
If a tree falls in the woods and there is nobody around, does it make a sound?
Livejournal
I've come to the conclusion that LJ is one of the best social networks out there. Its main strength are the deeply personal stories shared here - whether they are in big communities like the Ladies Loos or in safely secured posts. When you have those people on your friends list, you are rewarded with some of the best writing available online. LJ has also been getting better over the years - listening to its users (unlike Facebook and Google), and sheding all those people that used to only post quizzes and photos of cats (presumably moved on to Facebook.) LJ is also very good at creating friendships: I've lost count of how many people I've met here who have gone on to become very good friends of mine. Can users in Blogger, Wordpress, etc, claim as many online friends that are meaningful? Sure, there are some hiccups, it's not as popular as it used to be and it seems to be the Russian version of Orkut, but I think it's still a worthwhile site. It may be clunky and as relevant as Woolsworth but I still like it.
I've decided to post at least once a day on LJ from now on, even if it's just an embeded video, to show my appreciation for all those times years ago when it saved me from boredom in the office. I don't want to go anywhere else with my mundane posts about wine stains on the carpet. I want to stay here.