MyYearbook Nips at the Heels of MySpace

MySpace is the giant of the social networking website world. As with any highly popular idea, the copycats came out in droves. But are all of these sites just copycats, or do some of them actually have merit and original ideas? Most copycats are falling to the wayside after being crushed by MySpace, but some sites (such as FanPop.com) have carved their own little corner of the social networking website world. One site that is not just content to have their own little corner of the World Wide Web is MyYearbook. This social networking site created by two New Jersey high school students is quickly becoming the new MySpace.

What sets MyYearbook apart from MySpace and the other new social networking sites that have sprung up all over the internet? The simple answer to this would have to be lunch money. Since MyYearbook has a school type theme, many activities you do will add lunch money to your account. This is used to buy virtual gifts for your friends and other members, which range from items such as an apple (which runs about four dollars), to the moon (which runs about twenty thousand dollars). This lunch money aspect actually increases the social interaction between users, which really makes this a social networking site. Even MySpace has noticed the strength of this lunch money system. They have started a new 'Own Your Friends' type feature in which you can 'buy' your friends and resell them to make money.

There are many features on MyYearbook that enable users to interact and make lunch money. Some of these are the same as on MySpace and other social networking sites, but with different names to keep with the school house theme. Things like comments (autographs), adding friends, picture comments, updating a profile page, and adding videos are all very common things on such sites.

Some of the more unique and interesting ways for members to interact with each other, and make some lunch money in the process, are by giving each other gold stars or high fives. MyYearbook also has 'Battles' which allow members to pit their pictures or videos against other members' in a site wide vote to see which is better in whatever category they have chosen. These categories include things such as Best Looking, Biggest Dork, Funniest Picture, and Best Pet, among many others.

They newest way to make money is the one MySpace has decided to try to steal for their own, which strikes me as a nice compliment to MyYearbook. Recently MyYearbook started the 'Owned' section of the site. In this section you can use your lunch money to own other members' pictures, but then can be outbid for them. If you get outbid, you get a small lunch money profit, as does the actual member who posted the picture.

This is only a very small overview of a very interesting up-and-coming competitor of MySpace. Since this is still a Beta site, there are often new and different things to play with, and individual members' voices actually get heard. Click on any MyYearbook link throughout this article to sign up for free and start actually interacting for yourself.