Of all the site’s I’ve been on, Squidoo, to me, is most vague - perhaps my monetization efforts are at a maxed out level with my ever so popular Google Ads on the left, here… and hence my lack of understanding of Squidoo, so for help? Here’s an excerpt from their site’s About page:

Squidoo’s goal as a platform is to bring the power of recommendation to search. Squidoo’s goal as a co-op is to pay as much money as we can to our lensmasters and to charity. And Squidoo’s goal as a community is to have fun along the way, and meet new ideas and the people behind them.

Well then, for clarification of their clarification, I turned to Eric of TheRevolution.us. He’s a Squider, and though not a fruitfully successful one, he explained to me that this site is a place for users to hone their search skills, plaster their profile with goodies, get commissions on those goodies, and all in all, make the most out of your web experience. Personally? I believe it sounds a bit like Amway, but who am I to judge? I only have information about Sociosophy on my “lens”; where in I’d hopefully be able to turn and burn a few more exposure points.

The online entrepreneur, who leverages other online shopping experiences such as Amazon, and eBay could have a field day with this site. It is loaded with avenues for you to post things you like from anywhere, really - but additionally, provides a nice aggregated launching pad for all things shop you own or find interest in - and when people purchase from your lens? You make a buck, so go get’m you ambitious Internet business moguls!

PS. Even though it sounds like I have no idea what the hell Squidoo actually is; well, it’s because you can literally make it whatever you really want it to be. For me, it’s an online repository of RSS, and yet another place for me to keep my RSS pointed at. For you? It could be a pathway to the online retail shop you’ve always wanted, and give you a taste of what e-commerce and making money on the web is all about.

Ahhhh the extensive wonders delivered in the World Wine Web. Cork’d is yet another wine lover’s social network, with some even more features than offered on it’s recently posted kin, not that they are of relation of course, outside of subject. Cork’d has a few fancy fandangled functions fit for your fancy, such as:

• Wine Jounnal - I consider this the blog
• Wine Cellar - A list of found favorites
• Shopping List - The wonderful wine wishlist
• Drinking Buddies - Famously referred to as partners in crime, I’m sure
• Recommendations - A place for you to get told what to drink!
• Video enriched goodness on Wine Library TV
• Quality and Pricing - Subjective options of others, UNITE!
• Messaging, news and other friendly social features, as you can expect…

Oh and this is also equipped with RSS for all you feed junkies that exist in the world. It does appear as though this site is geared more for the person that is pretty darn serious about their adventures with the grape juice that’s won the hearts of so many; but nevertheless, I believe it’s a place for one and all (above legal drinking age)… I’m going to quest for one of these sites about scotch and whiskey, as my true passion is beginning to feel left out.

Well, after a few long days in the office, here’s an appropriate social network that I could use a glass of right now… Vinorati. This dandy grape filled website is a quencher for the serious wine connoisseur. Join a tasting group, share your favorites, and your tasting notes. Wines are listed and voted on and ranked by price, much like you can expect on any site where there’s a star voting system involved. The user experience is straight and to the point, and there is a reward for being active… that’s right! You get fancy titles, like “senior member”… Sounds prestigious.

So, who could use this site?

1. The obvious, Wine affectionado
2. The future wine lover
3. or… the guy like me, the person who knows little of wine, but has a dinner date wherein wine will most definitely be on the menu and he doesn’t want to look like a complete idiot.

Feature List:

• Add new wine!
• Rating
• Price ranking
• Browse wines by regions
• Add/organize favorites
• Comments, Recommendations
• TAG CLOUDS! - We love tag clouds
• RSS Goodness
• … among other things

I don’t think that your level of wine knowledge is pertinent to partaking in this classy little nook in the web, but - you do have to at least have a curiosity for wine, and the drive to learn more or teach someone about it.

Cheers.

Ok, I’ve come across some pretty slick things in my days working on Sociosophy, and as a 50th post celebration, I guess you could say, I saved the best (so far) for now. Getmooh is a call-back service, but not just any call back service… it’s geared to get you away from a planned event. Be it a date, meeting, or just plain ditching people you know you’re gonna be around, Getmooh has got to be the way you do it.

How it works? You enter your phone number, then the time you’d like it to call you, and then pick from a conversation from one of the most awesome lists of scripted phone calls I’ve ever heard. I’m not sure I’d be able to make it through some of these without laughing hysterically, but, if you need to use this service often enough? I guess you could get used to how well it is executed, and treat it like it is intended - as a phone call that can get you the hell out of whatever you’re trapped in.

What kind of person could use this? Easily noted, those who hate direct confrontation. Yes, this promotes white lies, fibs, and being a bullet dodger, but what a better way to be those things most of you probably are? This isn’t just ducking out, this is ducking out in style! Seriously. I’m LOVIN this!

When it comes to finding the hottest pages on the web, the number one spot you should check is Technorati. The interface is as simple as any social-bookmarking site, and the premise is much like all the others as well - the more people that favorite the same link? The more popular it is.

Technorati, much like the other social-bookmarking sites, has a “favorite this page” option, adding it to a list of personalized awesomeness you find neat. But unlike digg, delicious and magnolia, there’s an attachment to your blog, allowing you to keep track of your “Authority” - whenever someone adds you as a favorite as well - increasing your Authority and thus helping you score new exposure and more traffic, sweet!

But before you get too excited, if you’re running your own blog, and hoping that you can use Technorati to bootstrap your traffic via you adding posts of yours to favorites and getting linked from other sites - chances are you’ll continue to rank below the 4,000,000 marker and pretty much get lost in the vast nothingness, unless you have a way to turn water into wine.

Before the soapboxes get pulled out, it is no mystery that it takes more than one site’s benefits to gain exposure - and it never hurts to be a part of a site like Technorati, in fact, I like the interface for the social-bookmarking better than digg, or reddit, etc; but if you’re looking to boost traffic to your newly spawned baby, Technorati is not your site, from my experience, reddit, digg, propeller and the coveted stumble upon are the most responsive.

But before you go running off to any of those sites, make sure you write something worth reading - really worth reading - otherwise you’re just helping making all these awesome utilities completely worthless with your lame rubbish.