A few years ago there was a cool site called SixDegrees.com. The idea was that you and all your friends would go there and indicate who their friends were. Then, you could see how you were linked to people. It was a neat idea that ended up getting too big and dying. I hadn't really seen much in the way of sites like that since until recently. The first one I ran into is called Friendster. It's a lot like Six Degrees. It focuses on social connections, though almost feels a little like a dating site at the same time.

The other one is called Ryze. Ryze is seems to have more of a focus on business networking. From the FAQ:

Q: So what is Ryze anyways?
A: This is a site devoted to helping your extend your business network. You can find interesting people and connect with them, through common interests, shared friends and so on. The site includes things like an events calendar, a message board, private messaging facilities, home pages / profiles and a contact manager. Please try it out and let us know about anything that's unclear or frustrating, and also about suggestions for future enhancements. Thanks.

I think heard about this site when it went online, but it had slipped off my radar until this morning. Chris Pirillo posted about signing up with Ryze, so I had to go and take a look. It looks like the site has really taken off since I first saw it. I took some time to sign up and already found one person I know (btw, if you sign up you can do so here (it will link you to me when you sign up I believe)).

I actually think Ryze is a really cool idea. I'm going to see how I like it and maybe write some more on it after using it for a while.