My latest internet obsession (as if I needed anymore) comes by the name blip.fm.  This site allows you to be your own radio Deejay.    You choose the songs that you love, blip them and see how many props you get!  You can add favorite deejays to your list.  You can also acquire your own listening fan club!  It’s a great social network / creative outlet for music lovers!

check out my list on there!  My List of blips.

I’m starting to recognize the true value of this social networking concept. It never ceases to amaze me at how adept we are all becoming to the internet. It is almost as if our lives (as of now) will forever consist of a global community.

Within that global community is the chance for all of us to succeed. One of the best ways to advertise (aside from locally) is via social networks. It’s along the same lines as buying promotional products. Except, you develop a relationship with your social network contacts. You get to know their work and they get to know yours. In that way it garners respect, acknowledgment and hopefully … business.

I can’t say enough good things about social networking online. I think that it goes beyond the social day-to-day chatter and can be very useful on a number of different personal and professional levels.

What do you think?

I remember my first experience with the internet.  I used the Yahoo! and AOL search engines to find my information (all of the information could be found on numerous static html pages with spinning e-mail graphics).  The thing I was most excited about utilizing the internet for was … chatting.

I chatted my way from 1998 to 2001.  In that time, the internet grew and new programming languages began to emerge.  Websites started to become a bit more complex and functional.  The idea of connecting with individuals on a global level evolved from chatrooms to forums — better known as message board communities.

Within the last two years social networks emerged.  I’m sure most of you are familiar with Facebook, Myspace and all of the other various social networks.  Everyone I know has a social network now.  The good thing about these networks is that it gives you a chance to find people who are interested in the same thing as you.  The downside is that the debate is still out as to whether the internet should be considered IRL (or In Real Life).

Love ‘em or hate ‘em social networks are here to stay and with the way things usually go in the web world, will transform and evolve into something else.

So what do you do if you have searched through all of the social networks of the world and still feel that you have come up short in finding a community that fits your needs?  Well, you start your own of course!

Here is my comparable list of the finest free options to having your own social network:

1.  Ning.

Ning is a feature-rich social networking platform that is offered for free.  This is a great opportunity to get your feet wet in creating your own social network without having to worry about all of the programming involved.  The administration panel is easy to use and the drag and drop features to create your layout is very user-friendly.  This application comes ready with out-of-the-box templates which are easy to modify to fit your needs.  You can also upload your own header graphics and brand your community.

However, if you want to control the advertising, point to your own domain name or upgrade your bandwidth and diskspace, it will cost you a monthly fee.

2.  KickApps.

KickApps is similar to Ning, however, with KickApps you can customize and create unique widgets that help drive your social network.  KickApps also comes complete with a site styler.  You can use this WYSIWYG editor to create your design and truthfully, it’s never been easier to do so!

3.  CrowdVine.

CrowdVine allows you to create your own basic social network but one without all of the bells and whistles.  You can help design your own, but only get basic tools to do so. The basic package is free but if you want anything additional, you will have to pay for it.

…..

So there it is folks.  My top 3 list of free social network applications.