You're so over this whole social networking thing. It's just gotten out of hand, right? Facebook isn't young and hip anymore. Twitter is too ADD and spammy, devoid of substance. MySpace is a wretched hive of scum, villainy, and sexually transmitted diseases. We know, the pickings are getting slim for the discerning social media addict.

Before you write off the whole phenomenon, though, consider these ten lesser-known alternatives. They might not get as much press as Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace, but even the big networks had to start small, too. Be a pioneer and check these new frontiers out!

Bebo

This AOL-owned social network's name is short for "blog early, blog often." It's similar to what you're already familiar with, but by default each profile has only two components: a list of the user's friends, and a place for those friends to write comments. There are numerous additional components to choose from, though, so Bebo offers a great deal of customization and flexibility. You can also integrate your profile with your AOL Instant Messenger, Skype, or Windows Live Messenger account.

While most social networks just offer music and video uploads, Bebo has a section called "Bebo Authors." Book authors can upload chapters from their books as a means of self-promotion.

Orkut

Google-owned Orkut is actually huge. It has almost 70 million members, but the large majority of them are in Brazil and India. There are still quite a few members from the western, English-speaking world, though, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. While it's similar to Facebook for the most part, a few things work differently. You have three different profiles, in a way: personal, professional, and social. You can also microblog with an online "Scrapbook". Communities and pages rally members around interests for discussion. Worth a look.

Friendster

Often credited as the first web-based social network, Friendster is older than MySpace, but it never gained the kind of traction its successor did. It has a loyal community 90 million strong, and 90% of that number is in Asia, so this is a very strong choice if you live in Japan, China, South Korea, or another country in the region. But as with Orkut, there's a sizeable English-speaking minority too.

The site looks like a cleaner, horizontally-inverted MySpace, but without the obnoxious digital bling. Like Facebook, it supports third party apps that add all sorts of new features. It has more expanded tools for finding friends based on what artists and products they're "Fans" of. Perhaps most interestingly, you can add 3D profile spaces to your page. Odd!

Affluence

Maybe your problem with Facebok isn't that it's not hip enough. Maybe you don't like it because it's not sufficiently elitist! Affluence has you covered, so long as you meet its steep membership requirements. To join, you'll have to prove either that you have a networth of at least $3 million, or an annual income of $300,000 or more. You can bypass this by receiving five invitations from existing members, but do you think that's going to happen? Money changes everything; it's no surprise that folks who have it prefer to mingle where disparities aren't an issue.

We'd tell you all the features in store, but we're lowly technology editors, not billionaires, so we're not able to snoop around. The front page of the site promises exclusive concierge access and invitations to the most elite parties and clubs in the world, though.

Virb

Virb wins its points for being downright beautiful. Some jokingly call it the social network for designers, but that's actually not too far from the truth; much of its user base is made of up artists of one kind or another. It also has band pages like MySpace.

The most significant downside is that it's comparatively tiny. The point with any of these is to lead a mass defection of your friends, though. You can do it! The feature set is minimalistic, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Folks have been complaining for ages that Facebook has become too elaborate. On the other hand, you might want more than you'll get with Twitter. Virb is a fine compromise.

imeem

imeem got off to a rough start by requiring a client download, but it has since moved all its features to the web. The consequence has been a period of growth to about 24 million users. Unlike the other sites we've mentioned so far, imeem's focus is almost entirely on media. You can upload photos, songs, and videos to the site, and from those uploads stem all the interactions. There's some officially hosted content as well. Think of it like Facebook meets YouTube. You can potentially find a lot of friends through common love of certain videos, interests, or music artists, so it's a fresh way to approach the whole social networking thing.

Buzznet

We're mentioning Buzznet right after imeem because it's a similar concept – you share media, and the community is centered on that media instead of on user profiles. The key difference is that Buzznet is also a sort of news website for popular media, with a homepage full of stories about celebrities and other topics of interest. There's a real scenester vibe at Buzznet; it's less geek chic, more indie rock. If that's your crowd, you might as well sign up! And if you're an artist looking to promote your work, you'll probably be drawn by the "buzz" system. Your profile can attract buzz based on how often people view your content; if you reach a certain amount of buzz, your stuff will be promoted elsewhere on the site.

Multiply

Tired of trying to keep track of all those MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter friends you don't even really know? Multiply emphasizes real world relationships, encouraging you to specify exactly how you know someone when you add them to your list. It also has heavier security features, allowing you to more closely control who can see your profile information and updates. You can upload photos and videos, make blog posts, listen to music – even share cooking recipes! Multiply also offers each of its 11 million users a more elaborate "personal page" in addition to your goold old-fashioned profiles.

Badoo

London-based Badoo claims to be "the greatest place to meet since the towel of Babel" – a statement of auspicious hybris, to be sure – but it's attracted a sizeable following, especially in Europe. It's popular there because it supports more languages than many of its competitors. Here's the pitch: no advertising whatsoever. Sound good? Figured as much. The site supports itself by offering certain premium features, most notably one called "Rise Up," which lets you promote your profile to more people to get attention and make new friends for a short period of time. Badoo also places special emphasis on your local community.

The coolest alternative: Create your own social network

On second thought, why play by someone else's rules? Maybe you're so awesome, the only solution is to create your very own social network to which you can invite people almost as fantastic as you are.

There are a lot of tools you can use to do this – so many that we could have created an Obsessable Ten list just for these. Thing is, someone else has already made a pretty good list: TechCrunch's "Nine Ways to Build Your Own Social Network" is a good resource. We specifically recommend you check out Ning or BuddyPress (when it becomes widely available), which comes from the folks who made the immensely popular WordPress blogging software.

We wouldn't be surprised if the power goes to the people this way. Get in early!

[Header image courtesy of Flickr user Bitterjug. Used via Creative Commons.]