Glenn Rubenstein Explores Social Media's Next Wave

Glenn Rubenstein has been quite busy as of late.

Why? Because I signed up over at the Mashable Beta Invitations Website to request invites for the latest social media sites in development. Some are still in the "invitation only" stage, but a few are publicly accessible as of this writing.

Rather than give a breakdown of each site's features, I figure it's easiest to link to my profiles on a few so that you can see what I've been able to do with them so far, you can check out my profiles to see how these sites are actually used, or you can add me as a friend -- they call it "social" media for a reason, you know.

This is by no means the complete list, but it's rather a selection of what I have liked and found accessible and somewhat useful to date. But of course, there are many more available through the Mashable link above. What I have been most surprised by is the how many sites are simply new twists on other existing social media and social networking websites.

For instace, do you like microblog sites like Twitter and Pownce? Then you might also want to visit Glenn Rubenstein on Jaiku. Jaiku is like the two above-mentioned sites, except it's easier to plug in other feeds from your blog or a site like StumbleUpon. Useful, sure...until Pownce or Twitter add similar functionality.

Are you into Facebook's mini-feed feature but want a standalone version? If so, you should check out the Glenn Rubenstein FriendFeed. Friendfeed allows you to build a central hub for your activity updates from around the web. Mashable has already argued it's more useful than Google for keeping up with your friends.

But let's say you enjoy the level of information you can find by searching a site like Wikipedia or Mahalo, only you wish you could add further information or relevant links to additional sources. Take a look at
Glenn Rubenstein : Spock. Spock blends the Wiki approach with a Digg-like relevancy rating system and allows users to add to the related links and knowledge base on a person.

This one is probably my favorite though.

Are you into the idea of a social media games site with a lot of personality? Peep Glenn Rubenstein - iminlikewithyou.

Iminlikewithyou lets you play games with friends and start your own games others can participate in - most you can create are basically polls and quizzes from what I can tell so far though. The site does feature some cool multiplayer party games though - one that I liked a lot is similar to Pictionary, another is like a more chaotic version of Tetris.

You have to see it for yourself, but this site has a lot going on - for instance it randomly asks you yes or no pop-up questions (rewarding you with points) and even informs you as new members join in real-time. Of all the sites I've seen, it is certainly the most interactive of the bunch, because it prompts you to participate.

Anyhow, these are just a few of the up and coming social media sites I've been checking out. If you want to check any of these out for yourself, you can sign up at Mashable, or just leave a comment here with your email and I'll send you one.

- Glenn Rubenstein