Mini USA, the American branch of BMW's Mini Cooper line, tracks everything said about its brand - in blogs, discussion groups, forums, MySpace pages and much more - and then uses what it learns to guide advertising campaigns. 

Rich people have some of the best personal networks on earth. With money comes access and contacts. Yet that hasn’t stopped a myriad of companies from trying to sell the rich even more social networks online.

A new social networking site has launched to help consumers capitalize on others who always seem to find the best deals.

BeatThat.com allows shoppers to peruse the best deals on the Web with help from users who are particularly good at finding savings. 

LawLink, the first and largest professional and social networking site exclusively for attorneys in the US, is now open to attorneys in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. 

Technology company Sun Microsystems Inc announced on Thursday (7 August) the release of a new social networking game for social networking site Facebook, which enables fans of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games to compete online by predicting medal winners throughout this summer's events.  

SOCIAL networking is getting ever more confusing as new services are activated at breakneck speed. In the past, there was Friendster.com, then LinkedIn.com, MySpace.com, Flickr.com, and now Facebook.com. The growth phenomenon of social networking services is so fast people are just having a hard time monitoring their accounts one by one. So they have turned to social networking aggregators that make it easier to access all these networks.

Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are fast emerging as some of the most fertile grounds for malicious software, identity thieves and online mischief-makers. And while some of the talks given here at the Black Hat hacker conference would probably make most people want to avoid social networking sites altogether, it turns out that staying off of these networks entirely may not be the safest option either. 

Girls ages eight to fifteen have a new and fashionable alternative to social networking sites like Facebook or Myspace: ShopLikeAnna.com, a website that allows girls to talk, shop, and "friendwork". Most importantly, Shop Like Anna is limited to individuals under the age of fifteen and requires verification from a parent or guardian before users can participate, making it a much safer environment than most social media. 

Over 750,000 British children aged 12 or under use social networking sites, which is forcing three quarters of all parents to spy on their kids' online activities, according to new research.

The study, commissioned by online information firm Garlik, found that 23% of children aged between eight and 12 claim to use the three most popular social networking sites - Facebook, Bebo and MySpace - despite the minimum age registration being 13 (or 14 for MySpace).

Social networks are the bars and nightclubs of the Internet.

Some cater to folks looking for a quiet evening on the town. Others offer a spot to share a quick story and a cold beer after a long day at work. And then there are those places where you can usually count on someone drinking too much and taking off their clothes.

Lawriter, LLC a subsidiary of Collexis Holdings Inc. announced today the development of the first professional social network exclusively for law students. 

Google's former managing director for South Asia, Richard Kimber, is aiming to harness the power of social networking sites to grow revenue as the new chief executive of Friendster Inc.

Friendster, the world's third biggest social networking site and Asia's largest, has announced Mr Kimber's appointment and that it had secured $US20 million ($A21.9 million) in funding from one of its backers, IDG Ventures.

Social networking has apparently gone to the dogs.

Doggyspace.com brings together dog owners from all over the world, allowing them to create profiles, and share photos and videos of their pups.

Following its successful beta launch in May 2008, YadaHome.com ( www.yadahome.com) is giving Moms, Dads and Grandparents even more ways to engage, exchange and connect with one another. "Parents want a site where they can easily store, retrieve and share information. They also want to connect and communicate with other parents in similar situations. Adding groups and forums to our existing network of individual user profiles now provides our members with a unique, full-service social networking experience," said Maurice McKenzie, founder and President.