What is an Aim? A Facebook? A Formspring? A Twitter?

[Saidy]

What are they? what can you do on them? are they recommended? are they good? how is a facebook better than a myspace.
Please Help.!
I want one of each but idk what they are!

[Jonathon]

aim is for aol instant messenger
facebook is a social networking website
i don't know what is formspring
twitter is like a blog but more annoying you can use it to update your friends and enemies of all the things you are doing all the time

myspace used to be the more popular social networking site but lately people have been using facebook more because myspace turned into an advertisement website and so has facebook but its not as obnoxious about it yet

[Brad P]

Aim is an instant messager client, it allows you to talk to other clients you've added to your list. Facebook is a social networking site, it allows for you to connect with friends and family, posting status updates about your life and reading others. Formspring is a QnA site, like Yahoo Answers. Twitter is a social network, but your status updates are limited to 140 characters. Facebook is generally considered better than mySpace, because it's easier to add friends on MySpace, and you can't hide your profile, so you can get stalked by random people.

[snorkeling_llama]

Aim: AOL instant messager. It is usually downloaded to your computer, and used from your desktop to talk to friends directly. Facebook: a social networking site. It's mainly composed of a friends list, and a personal page. The main function of facebook is its "wall". You or your friends can post short entries (approx 140 characters initially) to each other's "wall". It's like a series of tiny message boards, consolidated into one. It also includes private messaging (instant and other). Fromspring: this is a website that consists entirely of Q&A's between friends. You may get questions from the site, from strangers (anonymous posters) or friends who are registered with the site. This site contains a list of all your friend's answers (if they are signed up, have answered questions, and you have "added" them to your friend's list). Unless you have a huge network of online friends that are interested in Q&A, then you may have little to no content. Twitter: this is a site that allows you to post only "status updates". There is a private message function (similar to email). The main feature of this site, is that you do not need to log onto a computer to use it. You can make posts from your cell phone, by signing up and registering your phone number with the site (after you sign up and get a username). Other members may "follow" you, which basically adds your updates onto their list of updates from other people. People on the site may sit around and read through all their friend's updates (or anyone else they may have added). Many celebrities (A-D listers, or other notable cultural figureheads) have twitter accounts, and following them gives people an "inside scoop" feel to the lives of otherwise "untouchable" "celebrities". Myspace and Facebook are now mostly the same. The main difference is that Myspace has been around for much longer. When Facebook came around, Myspace tried to stay competitive with them, and they reprogrammed their site to be very similar to Facebook. This led a lot of users to become confused and disinterested with the site, due to all the changes and confusion. A lot of people who had Myspace accounts have either deleted their profiles, or don't use them. If most of the people you want to stay in contact with are on Myspace, it is still worth having one. However, if most of the people you know are on Facebook, it's okay to just use that. It your friends are evenly split between the two, pick which site you like better (which have the functions and layouts you prefer), and stick to that. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have both. Make sure you observe proper internet safety when you use ANY of these sites or services. If you are unsure about what this consists of, do some research. As for personal recommendations: Aim is a good resource to have on your desktop. You may want to ask your friends for their AIM handles, and add them to your buddy list. It's best to keep this list limited to people you actually talk to with frequency, otherwise the list can get confusing. I believe there is a function that allows you to see their real names, but I don't bother with that. Facebook is pretty useful, as far as social networking goes. It receives the highest amount of traffic on the most regular basis, so it's currently the best way to go about social networking. Be careful not to get caught reading everybody's status updates, because you may end up wasting a LOT of time trying to keep up on everything. Skim read or skip most of it. Stop by and read for people you want to actually know about. Fromspring is pretty useless, because there isn't a lot of registered users, and most people don't constantly ask each other questions. However, if you know a lot of people who are on the site, and who ask questions frequently, then it can be a fun site to use. There is a function that allows you to cross-post your responses onto other sites. Again, be careful to not cross-post if you are revealing too much personal information. Twitter is potentially useful if you have a lot of friends who use it (and don't abuse it). If your friends don't post useful information, or don't post at all, it's best to skip this one. Of course, if you need more things to do on your phone... go for it. Myspace is still useful for bands. If you want a "homepage" for yourself (sites like Facebook are really only good for networking, as they lack the "homepage" feel), then you may want to sign up, regardless of how much you may use it. Again, try to not reveal personal information that may be used against you.