We all know that there are a crap-load of web 2.0 sites emerging from the intertubes. A lot of these websites emphasize the social aspect of the internet. One problem; there are so many to choose from, and a lot of them have different niches. For example, myspace and facebook are both very similar yet also very different. So how can we determine which ones we want to contribute to? Maybe you’ll even want to be a part of more than one site of the same niche. It all depends on the user, and their opinions of each website. It doesn’t take a genius to know that social website myspace has an awful reputation for presenting its users with poorly designed webpages. Myspace’s purpose is to let users share all sorts of contact while also communicating with the friends they make there. Facebook is similar to myspace, although Facebook locks its users into a single design. This is good because no one’s page can look ugly (although a lot of users add ridiculous amounts of applications), but bad because good designers can’t express themselves with this web app. Both very similar, yet very different. Then there’s social news websites, like digg, reddit, and mixx. While digg is the most popular among these, each have their own pros and cons. Again, it’s up to the user to decide which they like best. Smaller sites like mixx will likely be easier for a user to make an impact on the website (and home page stories). Sites like digg are hugely popular and will be hard to become popular in, but this popularity also means much more. Again, it’s all up to the user. I’ll go into one more sub-category of social websites. These are hard to explain; you really have to get into them in order to fully understand them. These sites are Twitter and Pownce. They allow users to post messages, links, images, and even events to either their friends, a specific user, or the general public. They both have desktop-based applications for easy posting. While I tend to prefer Pownce over Twitter, I’m a member of both. Sometimes it’s important to participate in both sides of the social spectrum because its better for your social contacts (so they aren’t limited to the website you choose).What am I trying to get at here? I don’t know, you choose.