Esnips.com

Would you be interested in a social networking site that allows you to upload and share your artistic creations with the world and even offer them up for sale? Are you looking for a website that can be a private journal, a community of like-minded friends, and an opportunity to showcase your unique talents, all wrapped up in one attractive, user-friendly package? Then Esnips (www.esnips.com), may be just the site for you.

PC World (January 2007), describes Esnips as "a salad of MySpace, YouTube, Digg, and Amazon's Marketplace". The ability to do so much on one website is one of the most attractive things about Esnips, and sets it apart from other social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

The website offers a user-friendly uploader so you can easily transfer files to Esnips. Almost anything that can be expressed in digital form may be uploaded to your page. For example:
-Art
-Photography
-Audio (both voice and music)
-Video
-Webpage captures and snippets
-Documents

This data is organized into folders on your account page. You decide whether each folder is visible to the world, to a select group of friends, or is kept completely private. You may even decide to upload your creative work to the marketplace and put a price on it.

Do you want to find people who share your interests? There are six communities and dozens of sub-communities to aid in your search. Don't see a community that fits? You are free to suggest one of your own.

A really fun and interesting way to find people who share your tastes and outlook is by taking quizzes to determine your "Social DNA". These quizzes are organized into groups called, of course, "genes". It might amaze you that your closest relative' in terms of Social DNA lives half a world away!

Does all this sound like something you would like to take for a test drive?

Esnips is user-friendly and visually pleasing from the homepage forward. There is an 11-page tour that goes into some detail about what you can expect from the site. Setting up a profile is easy and you can even choose from a number of backgrounds for your page. The entire process is set out in a clear, systematic manner that anyone should find stress-free. Even the user agreement is relatively easy to read and understand. That is a rare find as anyone who has ever joined any site on the net can tell you.

A few caveats:
Although you retain ownership of the materials you submit to public areas, Esnips may use them until you remove them from the site. You are free to remove anything at any time and this automatically cancels their rights to the submission.

If you intend to use the marketplace, you might want to go over the list of prohibited items. Among the items you may not offer for sale are, "Human parts and remains". Not to worry, there is always Ebay for that.

This site is worth a look for anyone interested in socializing, networking, or just having fun. It could be especially valuable to both lovers and creators of art, photography music and video. In time, this site could give MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and all the other internet giants a run for their money. Did I forget Ebay?