Two years ago, we reported on the MySpace craze and how MySpace has created a virtual community of artists and fans alike where area artists can promote their artistry to audiences as local as their neighborhood block to as distant as a foreign continent. DC’s own go-go group Mambo Sauce was featured in the story along with other artists as an example of just how talented the performers are on MySpace.

With no fees to join and user-friendly widgets and applications, MySpace still ranks as the top dog when artists choose to promote their music. Despite MySpace’s reign supreme, there are other fast-growing online spaces attracting local and national artists, which may give MySpace some competition by year’s end.

Ning networks are the latest trend that artists and music-industry people are using as the rush for self-promotion and branding takes flight. Ning was founded in 2004 by Gina Bianchini to give virtually anyone the opportunity to create a social network for any common theme you can imagine. If you visit the Ning website and do a search of Ning networks, you’ll find social networks formed around such varied topics as football, photography, natural hair and snowboarding. Similar to the popular site Facebook, which allows people to “friend” each other and download various new applications, Ning networks rival MySpace with the ability to effortlessly alter page appearance and upload music tracks. In addition, members can create blogs and share information across networks they may join.

After visiting hundreds of Ning networks, I found three sites that have a high percentage of users who hail from Washington, DC, and are growing in popularity as a national network.

Soul Commune @ www.soulcommune.com
Created by Howard University graduate Donald Hardway, Soul Commune is a space for music fans, artists, promoters and everybody in between. On the site, Hardway uses the dictionary to describe the commune as “in a state of intimate, heightened sensitivity and receptivity, as with one's surroundings.” This site experience is different from MySpace as it caters to a soul, funk, jazz and hip-hop audience, and there is real conversation that takes place on this site between members. You can find on this site Sy Smith, who was featured here in Southeast Stylings last month, and two mouse-clicks away you can add award-winning jazz and r & b singer Kem to your friend list. The site, which started earlier this year, already has thousands of members – garnering 1,000 members less than two months after launching. Look for DC performers Afi Soul, Cool Cee Brown and Dee Stone on this site among a wide-range of national and international acts.

Sojournals @ www.sojournals.com
Created by another Howard University graduate, Kelli Anderson, Sojournals began as a way for Anderson to stay in touch with her friends and family when she moved back to Texas after graduating from college.

“I moved back home to Texas for a while and wanted to stay connected. The site took off from there,” says Anderson.

She moved back to DC and found that more people than those in her immediate circle were joining to promote their businesses and services. Soon, she got inspired to promote the site as the premiere place for businesses to market and network. Today, Anderson’s site enjoys high traffic and has had over 100 members join in just the past three months. East of the River hip-hop performer Kokayi is an active member of Sojournals as is visual artist Sharon Burton of the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative who also owns and operates Authentic Art Consulting.

Guerilla Arts @ www.guerillaarts.ning.com
Gabriel Benn grew up in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood in DC and committed himself to making a difference. A locally and nationally well-known hip-hop artist known as Asheru, Benn has become a premier educator in the Washington, DC, community. He is known for developing an educational curriculum series to teach young people literacy skills through the genre of hip-hop. In his efforts to raise awareness and build a network of local artist-educators, Benn created in 2005 the Guerilla Arts Ning network which has hundreds of members from the immediate Washington, DC, area and new arrivals who hail from other states. On this site, artist-educators promote events and dialogue on issues pertinent to building healthy educational communities for children. East of the River poet, dancer and visual artist Afrika Midnight Asha Abney is among the many members of Guerilla Arts.

Khadijah Ali-Coleman is an artist-educator from the Washington, DC, metro area who is part of Liberated Muse Productions, which will host the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest 2008 on July 26 in Marvin Gaye Park. Visit www.liberatedmuse.com for details.