In 2007, when I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I discovered that, while my friends in Orlando were quick to adopt everything from Myspace to Flickr to Twitter, people in Silicon Valley avoided signing up for multiple forms of social media. For them, Facebook was the present and future king of all social networking. The reason? Managing too many different accounts was overwhelming, and Facebook effectively streamlined everything one wanted – from status and news updates … to photo sharing … to event posting – on one, easy-to-use site.

So how has Facebook managed this? It isn’t always because they had the best ideas first … but it is because they recognized value in other social media outlets and integrated facets of several of them. Recently, the site added Places, a spin on Foursquare’s geo-tagging application – putting the juggernaut in direct competition with Foursquare, a fledging start-up that has increased its user base this year, but hasn’t quite become the next big thing that some experts predicted. And, last week, Facebook did it again by introducing a new profile layout that puts job and education information in an easy-to-see location at the top of user profiles, and also allows people to add specific job details … a move that social media expert Peter Shankman believes could be “checkmate” for LinkedIn.

Only time will tell how Facebook’s new features and applications impact other social networking sites – but with the company moving full-steam ahead, it doesn’t appear that the trend of adopting ideas and tweaking them is short-term. And, it begs the question: If Facebook already does it and I have an account with them, why would I bother trying to manage another site or application?

What do you think? Would you prefer to use Facebook for all your social media needs or do you think that Facebook can’t provide the same benefits that other applications do? And do you think the “little guys” have a chance of surviving?

According to the New York Times, Myspace is getting a much-needed makeover.

In a very smart move, Myspace will no longer try to compete with Facebook but instead will aim to complement the social media giant. The revamped website will focus on music and entertainment for ages 18-34 – another clever tactic, considering that Facebook’s quickest growing demographic is users 35 years and older. Myspace will also incorporate badges, similar to those Foursquare offers.

As part of the website’s new focus, the homepage will feature a live stream (think Twitter) of television-, music- and movie-related comments. This, coupled with virtual badges, sounds a lot like Miso, a website that is relatively unknown when compared to Myspace.

But, Myspace – and Miso, for that matter – are definitely on to something. If you’ve been on Twitter during the primetime television line up, you’ve seen your feed light up with comments and trending topics.

Are you willing to give Myspace a second chance?

By now, you know about Facebook and MySpace. But did you know that there are a whole host of social networking platforms that may be better tools to help companies reach key audiences? Sound like targeting? That tried and true marketing principle is even more important in today’s online world.

Mashable compiled a list of 350 social networks — ranging from connecting families … to shopaholics.  Here’s just a sample of some targeted networks that you shouldn’t overlook:

• Ning — create your own social network
• CarGurus — connecting car lovers
• Shelfari — where booklovers gather
• CafeMom — uniting moms and mothers-to-be
• Flickr — sharing photos
• LinkedIn — professional networking

Bottom line: Don’t just create a page on Facebook because you think it’s “the place to be.” Instead, do a little research. You might be surprised to learn that you can engage a network that provides direct access to your target market.