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Ok guys, here I am today, after a very long lazy day. Didnt do much today.

For a very long time, I have been thinking about Social Networking sites, companies behind them, their past and future. Many bloggers have covered different aspects of this phenomenon, and so I know I am not the first one doing this. The reason I wanted to write this post is that I do not know why so many people are talking about social networking sites these days. Listen up people, I think, the social networking sites is a thing of past. There are so many out there and there is nothing good about them. Its not like this was something new or was done first time, Geocities, Lycos, Tripod, Xoom, fortunecity etc etc there were so many of those in web 1.0 before the dotcom burst, and now we have again, myspace, facebook, linkedin etc etc. Except for the ones that have already made it big, or have some uniqueness about them, I do not see future of any new ones anymore. Try yourself a search on Google for “open source social networking software” and you will find millions of webpages for this result : http://www.google.com/search?q=open+source+social+networking+software&hl=en&start=10&sa=N What is the point ? Do you get it ?

TechCrunch recently did an article about the social networking platforms out there, but for whom ? What they did was consolidated and did the homework for anyone who was new or did not know about such platforms. What they also did was open the door for many of you readers out there who did not know how to start your own social networking site, guys its simple, its just like when we would sign up for our page on Geocities, or Tripod, same thing is now happening with these sites. In minutes you can have your own network up and ready, and then what, you try to get traffic to that network and then ? Nothing, thats what I am saying, its not a thing of future anymore. You will wait for your network to grow, will have some visitors, will also get some pageviews and then it will die its own death, slowly you will move on and will forget that you once had your own social networking site, just like you have forgotten your webpage. Read the techcrunch article here to get your own social networking site, go ahead jump in the well : http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/wlsn_comparison_chart.html

Yes, if you have deep pockets like Reliance or Bharti or Fox or Microsoft or Google or Yahoo then you are better off having your own social networking site. But I still think for India its too early and for US its too late, unless some new offering is done and a unique product is born, there wont be much out there. Even in India there are now atleast 10 sites that state they are the number 1 Indian social networking website, but who has the most traction, most visitors and retainability, only time will tell. I dont think Indian go to these sites to make friends, I think most of the traffic is junk and is out there for porn and adult stuff, which doesnt make me feel good about these sites.

 I will continue more on this topic later in my other post, for today thats all.