SITE 1: Pinterest

 The official definition of ‘pinterest’ is an online pin board, Though it is a pinboard, you can find types of ideas for anything you could possibly think of. From decorating to cooking to humorous pictures, Pinterest is seriously addictive.  People who have blogs about innovative ideas or recipes (mostly teachers and moms) can post their innovative ideas for everyone to see. There are now millions of things that have been pinned! Though it is a completely free website, you have to be invited by exisisting members to join the ‘community’ and be able to create your own pin boards. It has become so popular that Time magazine listed it on their ’50 Best Websites’ of 2011.

SITE 2: Facebook

Facebook is the most obvious choice as a example of a social media site, with over one billion active users each month

  The core purpose of Facebook is being able to easily connect and communicate with friends, family and other members around the world all from your very own profile.

Facebook members create a profile which enables them to add friends, once confirmed, keeping in contact has never been simpler. With options of chat, private messaging, wall posts and a 'like' button, these unique features have been copied and used on many sites we see today and has become a leader in social media sites being betten only by youtube

SITE 3: Vemeo

Vimeo has a clean and streamlined aesthetic to it appearance. Uploading videos to your page feels like adding to your online portfolio, everything is organized and easily searchable. In addition the quality of the video is higher and there is no time length limit on the videos being uploaded.

Vimeo fits into a much more niche audience, centered on good filmmaking and inspiring videos. Vimeo filters out the commercial videos, gaming videos and all non-user generated content. The community tends to be a more professional crowd, made up of filmmakers and film enthusiasts. The community is much more engaged with constructive feedback, helping filmmakers form relationships with other users.

An added bonus, Vimeo allows users to upload their own thumbnail image to the video and choose the most enticing image to represent their video. With a Pro account Vimeo allows users to embed their logo or image directly on the video player, which is great for branding.

SITE 4: Reddit 

reddit, is a social news and entertainment website where registered users submit content in the form of either a link or a text ("self") post. Other users then vote the submission "up" or "down", which is used to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages and front page.

The site is a collection of entries submitted by its registered users, essentially a bulletin board system. The entries are organized into areas of interest called "reddits". Historically, the front page was the main reddit, and other areas were "subreddits". There is now no main reddit, but the term subreddit persists as an informal name for an area of interest.

Registered users, especially those that post new entries, or post comments to entries, are called "redditors", a portmanteau of "reddit editor". Reddit itself is a portmanteau of "read/edit" and of "read it", i.e., "I read it on Reddit".

As submissions post to the site, redditors can vote for or against them (upvote/downvote). Each reddit has a front page that shows newer submissions that have been rated highly. Redditors can also post comments about the submission, and respond back and forth in a conversation tree of comments; the comments themselves can also be upvoted and downvoted.

The home page of Reddit displays front page content from selected reddits. There is a default set, but registered users can customize their set.

Redditors can "friend" one another, which gives a redditor quick access to posting and comments of their friend list.

Postings are typically a link to an external source, with a title provided by the redditor who posted it. Some redditors use the site as a personal bookmark collection. Others, relying on the size and activity of Reddit, and on the crowd sourced ratings of links, use it as a news aggregator.

The commenting system and friend system, along with a certain "Reddit ethos", lend Reddit aspects of a social network, though not to the extent of Facebook, Google+, and other websites aimed at social networking.