After all the scary headlines about sexual predators on MySpace, it was inevitable that someone would come up with a family-friendly social-networking website. So here's Famster: A certifiably Web 2.0 site designed as a private social network for your family. It even has an online-predator finder -- a feature that Marshall Kirkpatrick at TechCrunch finds a bit distasteful for playing on people's fears. There are other family-centric features built into the site, like a database of 23,000 recipes and an online shopping list.

One small problem with Famster's premise: After spending hours every day in the real world together, why would siblings have any interest in networking with each other, let alone their parents? Sure, moms could lay down the law and enforce the use of Famster for putting events on the family calendar, but that's just bound to make using the site seem even more uncool. The Browser's take: Famster's a cute idea, but it won't work in practice.

Others agree: "I just don’t see people checking in as much as email," writes educational technology consultant Kevin Lim at the Theory.isthereason blog. And Craig Burton asks, "How many social networking sites do we need? I guess you could say 'The bubble is baaaack!'"