Social networking "for dummies"

Some papers have created their own social networking pages, such as the Spokane Spokesman Review's cultural supplement, Spokane7. Others, such as the Bakersfield Californian, have launched their own local social networking sites.

But arguably the biggest social networking deal, Rupert Murdoch and News Corp's purchase of MySpace in July 2005, hasn't really evolved into an entity that has benefited his various newspaper and television holdings. In April 2007, a digg-like social news site, MySpace News, branched off from the mothership, but it includes news from all publications, not giving any emphasis to News Corp brands. Not to mention it doesn't appear much different than social news sites that have already established themselves.

So what are newspapers to do with social networking and social media sites in general? Here are some quotes from the Guardian article describing several sites:

Facebook: It's like a "souped-up, free version of Friends United."

MySpace: It's "social glue is music."

Bebo: "Bright, colourful, and cheesy."

Twitter: "... is like walking into a noisy party where you don't know anybody."

Second Life: "...a brave new world taking the Internet by storm, promising to change your view of reality, make you a millionaire and give you powerful tools to realise your full potential."

Doesn't really give you many ideas does it. So what do you think? Do you have any other examples of innovative ways in which newspapers are integrating social networking into their functions? 

Source: The Guardian 

ps. Some good examples and explanations can be found in Trends in Newsrooms 2007, a publication of the World Editors Forum.