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Do you Squidoo? Perhaps you are not familiar with that little orange creature with one big blue eye, but Squidoo is a social networking site utilizing a different system and framework than many free social networking sites. Squidoo allows each account to create as many unique web pages as they like and then individualize each page to reflect the unique topic and individual personality of the creator. The pages are visable to anyone browsing the web and the creator determines how much interaction will be allowed by viewers and other Squidoo registered users. For example, some pages allow anyone to leave a comment or vote in a poll while others allow only other Squidoo users to do so. So far that doesn't sound all that drastically different from the proliferation of free web hosts, free blog hosts, and other social networking options so why do I Squidoo?

Traffic. I started out with Squidoo simply to promote my various internet ventures -- web sites, blogs and ezines. Due to the way Squidoo is organized it makes a great system to capture and redirect traffic. Traffic arrives both from search engines and internally generated traffic. I have found this to be a great traffic generation tool. I have some profitable web sites that I do nothing else to promote except through Squidoo.

Money. While I started out simply to drive traffic to my other money-making enterprises I soon realized there is a number of ways to benefit financially from Squidoo. I can earn income directly from Squidoo based on the internal rank of my Squidoo page as well as from a variety of internal and external affiliate programs. Squidoo has several different affiliate programs programmed in and you are welcome to add as many other income sources to your lens as you want. I earn income every month from Squidoo and I have not even begun to fully capitalize on all my options.

Addiction. I fully admit that I am a Squidoo addict. I check in several times a day on the various lenses (the Squidoo term for a web page) and groups I maintain, I eye my dashboard stats, I haunt the Squidoo forum, and I'm constantly creating new lenses. I don't think there is a 12-step program for Squidoo addiction yet but there might need to be. I am constantly tweaking, fixing, adding, and altering my existing lenses as well as creating new lenses. Do I have a problem?

Friends. Squidoo is a friendly place. While there are certainly people here ready and eager to make a buck they don't seem to dominate this network as much as some of the others. Perhaps it is because Squidoo makes it so easy to donate all or a portion of your proceeds to a charity of your choice -- and so many Squidoo lens creators are dedicated to supporting a huge range of charities -- that makes Squidoo people a nicer group as a whole. Yes, there are people like myself using Squidoo to support or promote a business, but it is not all about money. It is about people and ideas and community. That is what keeps me coming back day after day. I find myself not just checking up on my projects but the projects of various people that interest me -- and Squidoo makes it super easy to do just that!

Fun. This could be why Squidoo is so addictive. It is a lot of fun. Last night I created a fan lens for an actor my son likes. We learned things, laughed at some jokes, and sang along with some songs. It didn't take that long to create and we had fun doing it. How cool is that? I often lose all track of time while creating a lens because it is so much fun. It is very creative and can make a great hobby as well as a business.

Easy and free. Perhaps these are really two separate reasons but I lump them together because while many types of social networking sites are free not all are easy as well. This semester I introduced my college students to Squidoo to create their web presentations and a lot of them thought it was just great. I've been requiring web presentations for some time but so many free systems are not easy to learn on the fly -- Squidoo can have you up and running very quickly. Also Squidoo doesn't have the restrictions to the size of accounts or bandwidth use that so many free sites have. The more visitors the merrier according to Squidoo!

So that is the six (or seven) reasons why I Squidoo and I think you should too. You owe it to yourself to check out Squidoo today if you are interested in either a fun new hobby, a great new business, or a way to promote a special interest.