This is so far beyond cool it’s not even funny, and thank you so much to Nexeus for pointing it out to me. Because oh..my..god… I think I’ve found a new toy. And we all know how much I love my toys.

It is yet another social networking site known as Utterz. A site where you can basically call a phone number, “leave a message”, and it’s uploading to your profile for your follower’s viewing pleasure. As Nexeus puts it, think of it as Twitter… with voice. You can even add a widget to your blog (*points to her sidebar*) so that your groupies can listen to you chatter! Is that cool, or what?

Consider this my prelude into podcasting… yet another thing I want to break into for this wonderful, fashionable, stylish and fantastic world of Second Life. I promise I’ll post something much more interesting when I actually leave the office. But until then, everyone go set up an Utterz account and start chattin’! Oh, and don’t forget to friend me too! I promise I won’t talk your ears off… much. ;)

Social networking has been all the rave for YEARS now… MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, even regular old message boards. And while I only just recently got into the whole social networking website thing, like… literally a year ago, I have been very pleased with what I’ve found in terms of social networking for Second Lifers. There are so many options out there, each with their own little “pull”. This morning, however, I would like to talk about a site that launched a few days ago: Rezzed.NET.

I only just signed up for Rezzed yesterday, and one reason why I find it to be *such a freaking cool* networking site is pretty simple: the website is very Web 2.0. And being the design geek that I am, that was a monolithic selling point for me. I shy away from sites like MySpace simply because they’re so damn ugly … popular or not. But this site is very nicely designed and incorporates a LOT of information in a very small, un-cramped space — quite the feat for a social site.

A few of the features you’ll see on Rezzed:

• Photos - Every social networking site has the ability to add photos somehow. Rezzed will allow you to create photo albums (I LOVE IT when sites like this have this feature), upload photos from your hard drive, add descriptions, and even give you a static link to your albums page so that you can share your shots with the world.
• Blog - What’s so cool about the blogging engine is that everyone’s latest blog entry will display front and center on the main Rezzed.NET web page. While I’m sure this is only cool right now because there’s only about 200 registered users on Rezzed (and I’m sure not all of them are blogging), I really like that it does this. It puts you RIGHT OUT THERE, you know? Very -in yo face-. I love that.
• Groups - The groups leave a bit to be desired. If there was a group message board feature of some sort, that would be killer. But for now, there’s only the ability to comment on the group page and add photos (somehow), which I kind of feel could get a little hectic as more people subscribe.
• Private Messaging - Just another way to bug your favorite SLer! :)
• Shoutbox - A VERY cool little feature on the left of the main Home page — got something to say to someone right away? Do it in the shoutbox!

I’m very interested to see how this website will develop in the future. And I’m so excited about seeing everyone I know on it!

Another rather interesting thing to note, and then I’ll close this post up…

There is a “most popular av” contest going on right now, that promises a $10,000L payout to the avatar with the most registered friends. A few details:

We want you to get off your tail and get your friends on RezzedNet, so here’s your incentive: On Christmas Day, we’ll be giving $10,000L to the most popular avatar profile* on RezzedNet. Second- and third-place prizes will be awarded as well.

All you need to compete is a RezzedNet profile and lots of friends. So send invitations out to all of your in-world friends and get them to sign up to bolster your popularity! If you need invitations, stop by any RezzedNet terminal.

If $10,000L isn’t enough to drag all of your friends there… then what is?! And with the holidays coming up, I’m sure $10,000L could go a long, LONG way for some of you!

Hope to see you all there! Let’s make this site all it was meant to be, shall we? Network, network, network! Oh, oh! And don’t forget to friend me!!! See you all on the flip side. :)