Simler – Socializing by Subject

Many social networking sites make it easy to find people who you know from school or work. A few even make it possible to sort users by age or geographic area. Simler, however, is hoping to make its mark in the world of social networking by grouping users together by topic. In essence, Simler’s goal is to make hot topics the central focus, rather than the individual users themselves.

Rather than uploading dozens of photos or joining various fan pages, the main purpose of Simler is for users to search through topics, called “tags,” and find an area they’re interested in discussing. Each topic’s tag page has a running dialogue with the newest messages appearing at the top. In addition to reading or posting messages about the core dialogue on a tag page, you can also comment on other users’ messages as well. Click on a user’s name to see his or her Simler profile, or add that user to your list of “friends.” Your friends’ posts will appear in your “homestream”—the streaming lists of posts that show up on your Simler main page—along with new posts from any tags that you have become a “fan” of.

The ultimate result is a constantly evolving community of people delving into topics both light and serious—from Soccer and Zombies to President Obama and the US Military. Unlike other online communities that make the focus on individual users, Simler focuses on the hot topics themselves, which is why we would definitely recommend the site for anyone looking for a community-style forum to share their opinions with like-minded people.