Four New Social Networks that You May like Better Than Facebook

Facebook is now the most popular website on the Internet. Twitter has been growing since day one, and currently has over 100 million active users that post an average of 230 million tweets per day. Everyone and their brother have some sort of social media account, and even the elderly who have been slow to adopt new technology have opened their arms to social media and made it their own.

As with everything that is popular on the Internet, there has been an influx of rival social networks over the past year. Most people cringe at the thought of having to set up another social media account, but there is some real value to be found in some of the new projects. Here are four of the most intriguing social media start-ups that have recently threw their hat into the social arena.

Chime.in

Chime.in is the brainchild of Uber Media CEO Bill Gross that made waves during the Web 2.0 conference when social news sites picked up on the fact that Chime.in plans to allow their users to monetize the content they produce. It made waves the next day when Ashton Kutcher posted a rambling video about guarding the truth that got picked up by celebrity gossip sites. Chime.in has a lot in common with Facebook and Twitter, but it also has some major improvements as far as information sharing goes. Users connect on the basis of Interests, and even Bill Gross himself is active on the network. The site is still in Beta, but has had positive reviews from users despite the fact that they cannot yet monetize their content.

Commonred

There are those networks like Chime.in and Twitter than are about sharing, and there are other networks like Commonred which is based on meeting like-minded people to share with. Another networking app based on interests, Commonred asks you some simple questions, and then ranks users according to the amount of interests and other common threads you share. It is a great way to find others who share multiple interests, and to connect with the right people to help you advance in your online niche.

Xeeme

If you are one of those people who shook their head at the thought of having to keep up with another social network, Xeeme might be the social network for you. Your profile conveniently lists all your social media profiles, and allows you to connect with other people who have too many profiles already. This makes it super easy to tell new friends how to add you across multiple platforms; so easy that you may be giving them a link to your Xeeme account instead of your Facebook before long. The website ranks you according to how many users pass through your Xeeme gateway to your other social networks allowing you to see who advertises their social media in a way that users want to add them across multiple networks.

Unthink.com

With Facebook's latest updates users can now see the latest news articles you've read, the latest music you've listened to and your profile has now become your life story. This is great for people who wanted to publish their life story on the Internet, but most people value the kind of privacy that Facebook doesn't offer anymore. Hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Unthink.com opened to beta testing promising to be the anti-Facebook that will keep your privacy intact, and allow you to own what you decide to share.

One of the few competitors that tout themselves as an alternative to Facebook, Unthink was plagued by technical problems and slow load times during the launch. It's clear they are trying to capitalize on current trends, which leads me to believe that their promise of standing up against corporate greed is as fake as the premise of privacy on the Internet.