The Next Facebook

Mark Zucherberg. More than likely if you're reading this article, you know this name. He single-handedly created the most successful social networking site of all time but the once omnipotent website now has very real competition in the form of location based social networking.

For years sites like Myspace and Facebook have allowed users to create custom profile pages which they can use to communicate with a list of user-approved friends, but now sites like Foursquare.com allow people from all over the world to communicate easily and effectively without ever having met. On Foursquare users simply "check-in" everywhere they go using the applications built in global positioning system and are immediately notified of other users in the area. After leaving their last destination users are encouraged to write "tips" telling others what they thought about their experience at that location i.e; special sales, friendly people, or the best times to stop by. Many other sites such as Google's Latitude allow any of the users contacts to track their exact location in real time doing away with the need to manually keep people informed as to your ETA, but also have SMS and instant messaging applications built in should you choose to do so.

Many people are wary about sites like this tracking their location at all times but not to fear because almost all of them allow the user to shut off the GPS function and still use all the other functions of the site. Sites like these are certainly poised to overtake Facebook in the never ending fight for the top social networking site, so get ahead of the curve, sign up, and enjoy.