As an educator, I'm constantly being pushed to try new things in my classroom, especially dealing with technology.  As part of a pen pal project, where my Spanish class connected with a class in Chile, I started a network through ning.com.  I wanted it to be a private network, where nobody could access the account unless they were invited to join it and I wanted complete control over what was placed on the site in order to monitor what the teenagers were talking about.  You can add pictures, video, sound bytes, text, etc. to your site.  So far, the project has been very successful and the students have all enjoyed the international, multi-media experience.  The account was very easy to set up and very user-friendly.  I know that this would be a great way for families and groups of friends to connect with one another in a less obtrusive way.   With the "Facebook" craze, this is a great and different option.