The new alpha version is out now and it features new functions for your favorite social networks!

There are a lot of social networks out there. Millions. There are a lot of confused people out there. Billions. 8hands is all about keeping you organized – we want you to find the perfect spot for you. We wish you to be loved, hugged by 8 huge purple hands. We've compiled a small quiz for you guys so you'll know which social network fits you the best – grab a calculator and add the right question number to see the result.

 

First thing I do when I wake up is…

1. Cleaning my glasses, making my bed & giving a kiss to my cuddly Elmo puppet.
2. Thinking about how great it was back in 1989. Damn, remember how that wall fell? Those were the days.
3. Brush my teeth.
4. Taking a picture of myself in front of the bathroom's mirror. Sometimes I stare right into it and say: Yeah, I'm good looking, yes yes I am.
5. Putting off Joanna Newsom alarm clock's song & going for the local coffee house for a drink.
6. Wishing 'pac was here.

My Favorite YouTube video is…

1. "I'm a Mac / I'm a PC" apple ads.
2. Jason Donovan's "Hang on to your love" music video. Man – that boy can sing!
3. The Pixies "Hey" lip-sync by Tasha & Dishka.
4. Anything by My Chemical Romance, but I like to watch videos with Paris Hilton as well.
5. "New York I Love You" by LCD Soundsystem.
6. Anything from frisco's bay-area. That hyphy iz da shiznit.

My Heroes Are:

1. Luke Skywalker.
2. Michael J. Fox.
3. My Father.
4. Myself.
5. Having Heroes is so 2001.
6. Malcolm X.

When I grow up I want to be:

1. Popular.
2. I am grown up. I have accomplished all I ever wanted back in 86'.
3. Tom.
4. A super model.
5. Pitchforkmedia's editor.
6. A motherfuckin' gangsta.

When I'm depressed I:

1. Hack The White-House's Web page.
2. Call my high school sweetheart.
3. Go to sleep. I'll feel better in the morning.
4. Cut my wrists while taking a self picture.
5. Take my Xanax. Lately I'm trying Cymbalta, the doc recommended it.
6. Poor out some liqueur for all da dead homies from my hood.

My first job was…

1. Modding computers.
2. Usher at the drive-in cinema.
3. Ronald McDonalds was my first boss.
4. Clerk at an ice-cream stand.
5. Clerk at a record store.
6. Rubbin' your white ass.

On Sundays I usually…

1. You can read all about it on the web, I'm not hiding anything.
2. Reminiscing about the old days. Wow, I was like a star back then.
3. Visiting my grandmother with my parents. That old lady is so sweet, she always gives me M&Ms.
4. Seeing friends, watching a movie & making home videos of myself.
5. Catching up with Hype Machine for the latest music buzz & going to some indie concerts.
6. Chillin' at the crack house.

During sex I usually think…

1. Wow… Firefox can open a lot of tabs.
2. Yeah! I'm giving it to you like I'm Doogie Howser!
3. I want to get married!
4. Maybe I should film this…
5. Will I see this boy/girl ever again?
6. Yeah! Licky-di-slip-slip-sup.

What do you see here?

1. It's the next generation of Nintendo Wii!
2. It's a pair of skates!
3. It's a house with a white fence!
4. It's me when I was in the uterus!
5. I'm not playing your stupid games. You're just trying to mess with me.
6. A po-po's badge.

What do you think about love?

1. True love will find me in the end.
2. I was in love, big love. But she dumped me, said I remind her of that uncle from "Napoleon Dynamite".
3. I can't wait to find love, being loved & making lots of little babies… isn't love all about family?
4. I think that everyone should love me. How can they not?! I'm hot, young & my hair is perfect.
5. Love is gay.
6. I got one love for ALL my girls.

Now lets see the results...

 

10-16 points:

 

You are a smart fella, we'll give you that. You know lots about computers, science & technology, but most people don't really get you. They think you are nothing more than a geek – you know that, cause as we said before, you are brilliantly smart, and you hate the fact that people think that "you have no life". That's why you are doing all you can to show them that you are so incredibly busy, in EVERY second of the day.

 

In other words, Twitter & Wakoopa are the social networks for you: With Twitter you can let everybody know what you are up to, showing them you are one active dude, and with Wakoopa you can open up your private world even more – letting people know which software you are using and when.

 

17-25 points:

 

If it's not clear to you by now (and we assume it's not, cause you don't seem to have self-awareness) YOU ARE LIVING IN THE PAST. All you ever think about, dream about & talk about isn't relevant to our beloved year of 2007. You should move on, it's really pathetic.

 

In other words, Friendster & Classmates are the social networks for you. You are loyal and what can we say, being old-school isn't that bad – you can always say you were there first.

 

26-35 points:

 

You are almost the real thing, but we're sorry, you are not quite there yet. You've got a good soul, you enjoy the sunset & your friends are great - They really do care about you. But you want more, you want to grow, be bigger than life. You want to be a MySpace user, but you can't handle all the spam, dirt & glitter colors.

 

In other words, Bebo, Xanga & Hi5 are the social networks for you. They will fit perfectly in your little life – you will be able to stay in touch with your old-too-normal-friends, without dealing with filthy garbage in your face. Maybe one day everybody will be just like you, so straight & pure, but we wouldn't hold our breath. It's more likely that you'll have to accept trash in your world as well, or stay alone forever. Sad but true.

 

36-45 points:

 

You really do think it's all about you, don't you? Well, there are almost 200 million people who feel just like that – What we are trying to say is that you are not so special. You're an Emo kid with black hair? Join the club. You're a perfect girl that can't stop picturing her self with a bra? C'mon, that's already a cliché.

 

In other words, MySpace & Facebook are the social networks for you. Everybody you know got their own shiny profile in one of these networks, and underneath it all, you like to be like everybody else. You love yourself, you want to share yourself and your oh-so-cool pics & videos with everyone. You have loads of time to insert html widgets, design html profile layouts & add friends or bands, but you will never-ever let anyone call you a geek. Don't get embarrassed – it can happen to the best of us.

 

46-55 points:

 

You are an elitist, semi-artistic, music adorer and basically, a typical hipster. You like everything to be smooth, esthetic & special. Probably, and this is just a wild guess, you live in the city, inhaling indie culture like a guy in the suite inhales a cigar, wearing only thrift store clothes & some-sort of geek (you know what we're talking about).

 

In other words, Flickr, Last.fm, imeem & Mog are the social networks for you. With Flickr, you can share with the world all of your artistic photos, concert stills and images from you so-cool lifestyle. Beside that, we know how you like to educate the world with your magnificent taste in music & films, so with Last.fm, imeem & Mog you can show everybody exactly what you are listening too, and that will help you in your triumph attempt to make this universe a better place.

 

56-60 points:

 

We don't know how to tell you this, but it's obvious that you are not black, even though you wish you were. Your answers were too ridiculous to actually be true, and no one talks like that, except of course from wiggers like yourself.

 

In other words, BlackPlanet is the social network for you. It's the only place that will make you feel like a real Afro-American, while it hides your true white identity. Use BlackPlanet to meet hot mammas, use Ebonics & get connected to somebody else's roots. Word up.

 

So many researches about social networking are getting published everyday, that it's hard to know the truth – What are the hottest new networks? Wich socail network is most likley to get you laid? Which network will change the way we consume air? And… well, you get our drift.

 

But every once in a while a certain research gets lots of attention, and that's when we are starting to act like everything that's written in it are plain facts (yeah, some of us at the 8hands mega-team are suckers). This time we are all circling around the latest research of Hitwise that was published last week and showed the 20 most popular networks and some very interesting statistics – and no, we are not talking about the fact that MySpace is the biggest network (with 80.74% of the market), our parents could have said that themselves.

 

Here are some of the findings:

• In 2007, social networking visits increased 11.5% from January to February.
• Social Networks hold 6.5% of the overall internet traffic in February 2007.
• Traffic to social networks gone 87% up since last year (comparing February 2006 to February 2006).
• Some networks are growing like crazy! From January to February Buzznet went up by 148.4% and our beloved Imeem grow by 145.7%.
• Some other networks are doing well too… From January to February Hoverspot jumped 19.6% up & Bebo (before you'll blink we will add 8hands support for it!) climbed by 17.8%.
• As we mentioned above, we are trying to avoid any MySpace Statistics that were found here (ok… we get it… you are BIG), but the next finding is astonishing: The other 19 networks on the top 20 list, received 25.8% of their upstream visits from MySpace – that is 1 out 4 entries!

 

Here are the top 20:

 

So… We are happy to see that little & new social networks are on the (atomic) rise – personally we are tired of all the MySpace madness (everything been said before: the layout, the spam, the eager-to-be-popular Tom – Been there done that!). It's the smooth & clean iMeem, Last.fm & Super Deluxe that get our love these days, and you know how it is - it changes by the week.

 

That's why we would love to add to 8hands as many social networks as possible – We keep registering ourselves in so many sites, knowing that soon enough we will be able to control them all from one location - our tiny & handsome desktop application. Facebook, Bebo, Friendster & Xanga will be added to the long list of the networks that are already supported by 8hands, and after them – many others. All we want to know, is which networks will you, the 8hands users, would like to see in the app. Leave a comment, mail us to info@8hands.com or even stop us on the streets. You know who we are – damn it, it's not so hard, we've got 8 hands!

 

 

"Interestingly, despite all the talk, the water cooler pronouncements, the breathless media coverage, and the teenage conversation you may have heard at home and in your communities social networking remains an under-examined topic.
What's real? What's true? What's work?
Nobody really knows"

 

This is how the Never Ending Friending - A length research commissioned by MySpace about social networking, begins. In early 2007 MySpace aimed to change that, and went on a quest to explore and understand the social networking users. The results are all gathered in this fascinated 68 PDF Leaflet.

 

The findings were quite amazing, and proved that the way we are consuming our media has completely changed as of the social networks rise. For an instant, when asking the social network users "What do you do when you have 15 minutes of free time?" the answer was simple: Visit their favorite social networking site. That, among with "talk on the cell-phone" was the most likely activity they'll chose to do, even before watching TV or surf the web generally! If that's not a reason to use 8hands then we really don't know what is.

 

 

 

Users of all ages report their real and virtual worlds need to be synced throughout the day, with each making the other more vivid. One responded even said she hates to go to school if she hasn't been on MySpace the night before, because she feels too "out of the mix". 15% of the social networking users age 14-40 said they're checking their favorite social site first thing in the morning!

 

 

 

 

The people who are used to blame the "MySpace generation" about living in a "virtual world" with "virtual friends" will be surprised to find out that reality is what social networking users rely on to deepen their existing real-life relationship. 58% of the social networking users said they are using the site in order to "stay in touch with friends", 44% said it is for re-establishing old contact.

Interestingly, taying in touch is actually twice as popular as "meeting new people" is. Other popular activities on social networks are pursuit of fun, self-promotion, finding people with same interests and sharing content.

 

 

 

 

During the whole research, social networking users consistently report that life with their favorite community is simply better then life without. Three-forth of respondents reported they're never bored on social networks. Roughly half said their social networking experiences have helped them have more fun, made life more interesting, or simply added fun to real life.

 

To summary the research, social networking became a big part of our lives in so many ways. It's like "the new phone number" as described by Andrew, 19: "Instead of getting someone's phone number, you can just get their MySpace, and communicate with them through there".

 

There is no doubt about it - social networks simply changed the way we interact with each other, with bands and brands, and with the entire media landscape.

 

Make sure to check out Download.com and rate and add your own description about the 8hands application. we were very happy to find 8hands on the download.com HOMEPAGE and to read some of the users' reviews: "I don't have to remember the login details to all my sites (I'm a MySpace freak, as well as other social networks...). The best part is that I don't need the f5 button anymore since I get all the updates from 8hands. I also liked the fact that you can actually drag Flickr photos and YouTube videos directly to the IM screen. All in all, the product is very cool and I like the logo too."