Introducing a New Social Networking Site

Social networks are all the rage these days. Sites like LinkedIn and Facebook are great ways to stay in touch with friends and colleagues. And you can turn to your network for answers to questions or referrals.

Yesterday, some friends of mine just went live with MyPetStreet, a new social network for pet owners. MyPetStreet provides some unique features for pet owners:

• Aggregated content and news feeds related to pet health, news, and product information.
  
• An repository of pet service providers and resources from the local community.
  
• A forum where users can find expert opinions, share pet owner insights, and ask questions to other pet owners.
• A unique lost-pet service that uses a combination of Web 2.0 technologies and old-fashioned plastic tags.
  

From a technology perspective, MyPetStreet is implemented with some pretty cool technologies. (Sorry, the inner geek takes over.)

• Searching for service providers is implemented using AJAX and Google maps. You simply put in your zip code, search criteria, and voila! The service providers pop up on a map. (Check it out)
• Content management is provided using Drupal, an open-source content-management framework.
• The site is implemented using LAMP: Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP.
  

As an owner of four parakeets, I've already checked out MyPetStreet. The directory of service providers in the BayArea is pretty comprehensive, and there's already a pretty sizeable base of content. And, the site is pretty nice implementation as well. Very cool. You should check it out for yourself.