Solve common woes with new social network sites

When you think of social networking, you probably think of posting photos and status updates to your personal profile pages on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. But that's not all it can be!

Social networking is taking on a new meaning as websites are popping up that offer solutions to common problems. Having a disagreement on your social net and want to prove who's right? Got some bad content on your Facebook page and want to remove it forever? Moving to a new neighborhood and want to make some friends? Got too many social networking pages and can't keep them straight? Looking for a specific recipe, but can't find it?

Digital Lifestyle Expert Mario Armstrong told "Early Show" viewers Wednesday about several new sites that can help you meet people, find the perfect recipe and make the most of your social networking in numerous other ways!

Such sites, says Armstrong, are "becoming much more common," because "it's become much easier to create and develop" them.

"This is good," he continues, "because it means there are diverse solutions, but the challenge is finding out about them and deciding on the ones that are really best for your needs.

"An interesting fact: More people are looking for these types of social sites, and the fastest growth has come from Internet users 74 and older." (Source: Pew Internet & Research Center)

PROBLEM: I'm having a disagreement and would like to know who's right.

SOLUTION: www.squabbler.com

Mario's thoughts: Squabbler.com gives you a platform to air out things you have a problem with. Its free to use, and essentially you submit a video of your side of an issue in 30 seconds or less and enter the email of the person you want to challenge on the issue. They'll receive the email, watch your video on the site and have the opportunity to upload their rebuttal video. Then, viewers vote on the person they agree with most. They love spirited debate BUT it has to be clean.

Site's take: Have a disagreement with someone? Well, here's the chance to settle it. On Squabbler, you'll both have the chance to present your side of a debate in 30 seconds or less. Then, over the life of the squabble, watch as the viewers give their verdict and declare a winner. We welcome spirited and passionate debate, but ask squabblers to keep it clean -- we want to keep this a friendly place to disagree. Feel free to be creative (sing it, dance it, mime it, do it in character, etc.), but remember, the objective is to convince others to vote for you. Don't forget to encourage your friends, family and co-workers to weigh in. There is no squabble too big or too small. Whether it's about healthcare or "who wore it best,"... everything's debatable.

PROBLEM: There's bad content on my Facebook page, but I can't find it and would like to remove it.

SOLUTION: www.socioclean.com

Mario: SocioClean.com helps you scan and clean your social media postings. It can scan your other online profiles say on Twitter & Facebook for example. Once it scans your messages, posts, photos etc that are already public not any private areas. After the scan you receive a "score" or like a grade that gives you a sense of how vulnerable you may be. They scan for "Alcohol/Drugs," things of a "sexual" nature, "racial" items, profanity, and words with aggression, and show you exactly where and when the terms appeared. You can also run a custom search for specific words. IT's helpful to give a "look in the mire" sense of what you are saying and what the perception about you online may be.

Site: Socioclean was found to keep social reputation clean in this growing world of social networking. Social networks are quickly becoming the primary personal communication and marketing platform for business. However, they introduce privacy risks and personal information leakage, which is becoming a bigger problem everyday. Our approach is to simplify the problem for end-users by allowing them to scan and clean their online profile for various social networks. Socioclean is the first comprehensive solution for managing and monitoring your online social network profile.

PROBLEM: I'm on so many social networks, I need help keeping track of them all.

SOLUTION: www.greplin.com

Mario: Greplin.com recently came out this year. Think of it like a search engine that allows you to search through your data on various online services. You can do a search on any information you may be looking for on sites like: Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, LinkedIn, Dropbox. If you want to search your info on more services you can pay $4.99 for the premium service.

Site: Greplin is a personal search engine that allows you to search all your online data in one easy place. Greplin indexes the information you create on different websites (like Gmail, Twitter and Facebook) and provides lightning fast search of all your information. Our goal is to make Greplin the search bar for your life. We want to simplify your personal web experience. Never again will you have to login to multiple websites and dig through mountains of data just to track down a single piece of forgotten information. Our goal is to keep everything in one place, so you can find what you need quickly and easily.

PROBLEM: I'd looking for a particular recipe, but don't want to have to scour the web.

SOLUTION: www.foodily.com

Mario: I love this Foodily.com and use it pretty regularly for food recipes. Think of this site like a search engine for food recipes. Your results show up in a side by side comparison view of recipe results. You can even get your friends to see what recipes you are choosing. You could also create your own menu of items that you turn into a menu that you can share with family and friends on Facebook. I did a recent search for a pancake recipe without dairy and several results were shown.

Site: Our reason for being is to help you find the food you love. Foodily is the most advanced recipe search engine in the world, offering the most delightful and intuitive way to find and share recipes. Foodily understands what you're searching for and what your friends like so we can connect the two.

PROBLEM: I'm new to a neighborhood but don't know anybody and would like to.

SOLUTION: www.homeelephant.com

Mario: How many of your neighbors do you really know? HomeElephant.com is a site where you can better connect with your neighbors. You can use the site to create an online profile about you and your interests creating a neighrbohood directly. You can also post neighborhood tips or create a neighborhood event like an upcoming yard sale, post alerts, organize garage sales, and otherwise communicate the shared needs and news of the area.

Site: Hosting a block party? Having a yard sale? Need to vent? Looking for a babysitter? Home Elephant helps you connect with neighbors and organize your neighborhood. Best of all? It's Free! Create a safer neighborhood. Connect Using Facebook, your browser and your mobile. Discover and meet your neighbors quickly. Organize you neighborhood association easily.

PROBLEM: I'm a parent with young children and our family is moving. I want to know the crime rate in areas I'm considering.

SOLUTION: www.spotcrime.com

Mario: Spotcrime uses public crime information to create their own version of crime maps, they also enable community citizens who want to be crime reporters to signup to update crimes in their community. Enbables you to help identify trends and crime-types in your area. Making you more aware and giving you information that could help a neighborhood watch program that is working with the police department.

Site: Spotcrime is the most comprehensive online source of crime information featuring local maps, crime reports & classifications, and real-time interactive maps.