Social media, a little removed

Man is a gregarious animal, so we learnt in school. Facebook is probably the coolest confirmation of the axiom, with every seventh person liking Mark Zuckerberg's offering to the world (there were 1.15 billion monthly Facebook users, according to the company's quarterly earnings report last month).

Little wonder that several others have tried their hands at making social media paying proposition. Most failed, some succeeded, but there have been others that address select audiences, and have succeeded after a fashion. We bring you five less-familiar names.

Lift http://lift.do
'Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going,' as the guy said. If you want to be good at something, anything, you need to do it again and again, every day, day after day, till it becomes your second nature, like brushing your teeth before going to bed (do you?).

'Lift' can help you stay motivated: it lets you keep tabs on your activities, and also invite friends from Twitter and Facebook to join you on Lift.

Alternately, you can make a new set of friends on Lift. There are groups such as health and fitness, productivity, personal development, happiness etc. You can also create your own groups. Lift is available as an App only for the iPhone, for other devices you need to use the browser.

Peterest http://www.peterest.com/
This site is for all things animal. Correction, for all things pet-worthy. Animals, their antics, dressing up pet pooches in pretty dress and posting pretty pictures… your friends on your regular social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… etc) may not share your enthusiasm, but on Peterest (it can be accessed by Web browser or via their iPhone/Android app), you will find people who share your enthusiasm.

Share pictures of your dog's hair-job, or your horse prancing in your pearls, or your hamster just being himself… and see what others are up to.

Play Up http://playup.com/
There is no sport like watching a game of cricket, said the wag. Sport is always fun with friends, regardless of whether you are watching or playing. Play Up is a niche social media website for sporting activities.

You can connect with other fans, see an event calendar, and even share or view favourite moments from a game. In case you like more than one sporting event, you can keep a watch on them together. You can also listen to radio commentary of games, and keep up with news from global sporting communities.

Play up has an App for Android, iPhone and even the Windows Phone. You can also use it via the Browser.

Qyuki http://www.qyuki.com/
This network comes from India, with AR Rahman and Shekhar Kapoor backing it. Qyuki lets you share content you have developed, whether it is a sketch, a photo, a video or a song.

People can rate your creation based on how it made them feel - like, love, hope, joy, sorrow, pride, anger, fear, humour, wonder or downright bored!

One can also leave comments, so if you are a budding artist, or just like looking at work from budding artists, Qyuki lets you do it easily. There is even a sections for handpicked creations.

The premiere section lets you look at content created by its founders, Kapur and Rahman. There is an app for Android and iPhone. For others, use the web interface.

Quipio http://quip.io/
Have a quotable quote that you want to share? Build a Quip, share it, get likes for your quotes or like other people's quotes…

Quipio is a simple place for exchanging pithy ideas, like those dial-a-quotes or your daily quote calendars that had become so popular not too long back. Quipio is also available via their Website and an Android/iPhone application.