While many people think of social media in terms of their computer, the iPhone and iPod Touch guarantee that you can interact anytime, anywhere.

We've gathered up over 70 apps that will help you stay in touch with just about anyone, whether they are across the world or using the same Wi-Fi hotspot as you. Oh, and did we mention that all of these are 100% free? What isn't to love?

What is your favorite way to stay connected with your social buddies on the iPhone and iPod Touch?

Instant Messaging







AIM - Keep in touch with all of your fellow AIM using friends while you're on the go.

fring - You can converse with all of your AIM, fring, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, Skype, Twitter and Yahoo friends from this one handy little application.

IRChon - An Internet Relay Chat client for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows you to be connected to multiple servers at once.

MobileLinked IM - Multi IM client that currently only supports MSN and Yahoo, but in the future will add AIM, GTalk, ICQ and QQ.

Nimbuzz - Allows you to chat with your friends on AIM, Facebook, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, MySpace, Skype and Yahoo. Also provides VoIP calls via Wi-Fi.

Palringo - An instant messaging client that allows you to use it like a walkie talkie, send images or just chat as you always would. Works with AIM, Gadu Gadu, GTalk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN and Yahoo.

Papaya Game Edition - A little bit of everything rolled into one application. You can play games on it, make VoIP calls and chat with friends on AIM, GTalk, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo.

QQ - A stand-alone instant messaging client that allows you to chat over the various connectivity networks of the iPhone, find new friends, run multiple conversations and more.

Truphone - Allows you to call your friends via VoIP on MSN, Skype and Truphone. There is also a version for second generation iPod Touches.

Location Based







Active Eagle - Keep your Yahoo Fire Eagle account updated by using this app to send your location via the iPhone's GPS.

Bliin - A social network that allows you to constantly update your location so other members can see where you are depending on what privacy level you have set. Has all the other usual trappings of a social network such as messages, groups and so on.

Brightkite - Keep your friends updated on where you currently are, and keep them abreast of what you're doing.

byNotes - byNotes allows you to message your friends and let them know where you are.

CityWatch - Explore the area around you by looking at geotagged photos on Flickr and Zannel, add your own, message with people around you and more.

iCloseBy WiFi - A location-based way of meeting people based on their access to the same WiFi hotspot that you are using. Is also cross platform so you can meet people on laptops and other WiFi enabled devices.

Limbo - See where your friends are and what they are doing, transmit your own activities, look up where to go next and more. Features support for 200 countries.

Loopt - A location-based social network that works across over 100 mobile devices and can share updates with sites like Facebook and Twitter.

MarcoPolo - See how far away your Facebook friends are, get directions to drive to them and more.

Moximity - Moximity integrates with your Facebook and Twitter friends to see where they last checked in, and if it is anywhere close to you.

Nicado Locate - Updates your profile on Nicado with your current location.

nrme - A location-based social network that functions somewhat like Twitter. You can set for how far away from you you want it to collect messages.

Puppyo! - A location-based message board service that allows you to talk to people from anywhere on Earth, or you can filter it down to just those in your general vicinity.

Spidr - Spidr gives you the ability to connect to various local "webs" to talk with other "spidrs" that are near you. If there is no web for your area, you create one, and other users will be able to find you automatically.

Twinkle - A location aware social network for the iPhone and iPod Touch that is also capable of updating your Twitter account. You can update where you are, send pictures, chat with nearby people and more.

Whos Here - Whos Here allows you to set up a profile, indicate the type of person you want to meet by age and gender, and it will show you the people nearby that meet that criteria. Instant messaging inside of the application does not use any texting credits.

Whrrl - See which of your friends is around your current location, get suggestions on places to go and even filter down to the types of places that interest you.

Microblogging







Comeks - A microblogging service based around adding comic book style word balloons to images to make comics. You can then email these images, share them, make postcards or send them to social sites such as Bebo, Facebook or Friendster.

FoneSonar - Update friends with where you are and what you are doing and this will post to your FoneSonar profile as well as Facebook and Twitter if you so desire.

GPSTwit - GPSTwit allows you to send location information along with your status update to your Twitter account.

Gyazickr - A Twitter client that is all about taking a photo, writing a caption, and posting it. That's it, and not a comprehensive Twitter client by their own admission.

JustUpdate - A Twitter client that does nothing but give you an update field and a characters remaining counter.

KoornkUpdate - An updating application for Koornk that gives you an update field and the number of characters remaining.

NatsuLion - A Twitter client based on NatsuLion for Mac OSX. Has separate tabs for replies, unread Tweets, timeline and several more features.

Rejaw - Allows you to read messages and send shouts to the Rejaw network.

Summizer - Search Twitter for just about anything you want, save searches for later use, disable avatars when you are on an EDGE network for faster loading and more.

Tweeter - A very minimalistic Twitter application for updating your account.

Twitfire - A Twitter client with a unique way of erasing a tweet if you want to start over: shake your device like an Etch-A-Sketch. Also has a built-in web browser, URL shortening, Google Map insertion capabilities and more.

Twittelator - A Twitter client with built-in search, ability to explore the public timeline, bookmarks for Tweets and many other features.

TwitterFon - A light-weight Twitter client that allows you to search tweets, send photos, retweet and everything else you would come to expect.

Twitterlink - A plugin for the mobile Safari that allows you to hit the bookmark icon and choose to tweet the page you are on. This will shorten the URL to 17 characters so you have room to describe what it is.

Twitterrific - This Twitter client allows you to see links in a mini-browser, look at user profiles, see direct messages and a host of other features.

Twittervision - An application that allows you to see where tweets from the public timeline are coming from via a map overlay.

Twitter Trend - See what the hottest conversations are on Twitter in a tag cloud-like interface.

Twitxr - Allows you to share photos with your friends on Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Twitter and Twitxr.

Miscellaneous







ACS Church Life - This app allows you to interact with your local church ACS account by looking up the calendar, social events and more. Perfect for small churches.

Add XBOX Live Friend - Ever met another XBox Live user while you were out and about? This app will allow you to quickly send them a friend request they can accept next time they log in.

Black Hole Forums - You can gain full access to the Black Hole forums with this app allowing you to read and post in the various categories, read private messages and more.

Camheroes - Tell your life story through pictures you take and upload to the Camheroes community.

Carticipate - A community based around carpooling to various destinations based on location and schedules.

CenceMe - Not only does CenceMe allow you to tell your Facebook friends where you are, but it will also senses what activity you are doing, such as standing, walking, dancing and so on, and then shares that information.

Kyte Producer - Allows you to broadcast to your Kyte account instantly as well as send pictures to Facebook, MySpace, your blog and more. You can also chat with your audience in real-time.

Pinger Phone - Pinger Phone aggregates your feeds from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, as well as lets you avoid texting fees by using their built-in IM feature over the data network.

ShoZu - Allows you to work with over 50 different sites such as Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, Twitter and more.

Strands - A lifestreaming app that will tell people what you have done and shared on various sites such as Digg, Flickr, Twitter and so on. Where it differs from most is it lets you know which items are popular across multiple users.

Ziibii - Ziibii mixes a stream of information that you choose from Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and RSS feeds that you select.

Question & Answer Communities







AnQuest - Ask questions and receive answers from other users all over the world. If you're feeling especially generous, you can answer some yourself.

Answers - Answers allows you to post questions in different categories so you can just focus on your area of interest. You also get a profile that tells how many questions you've asked, how many you've answered and what your karma is.

BreakkUp - A question and answer community dedicated to giving and receiving relationship advice.

HolyWars - An "intellectual combat" question and answer community that allows you to ask questions, see polls and engage others in intellectual discourse over their answers.

iBear Polls - Start or answer polls and leave comments to discuss the results with others.

Next2Friends Social - Interact with or start your own polls and you will see the results in real-time. You can also comment, post messages, share photos and more.

Social Networks







1337pwns iNXES XBOX Live Friends - An XBox Live friends app that supports the avatar-based update to the system. Allows you to sort friends, see detailed gaming history and more.

Bluepulse - A mobile phone only social network that allows for messaging. Share your status, start groups and so on. iPhone app users also get the ability to directly upload photos.

Facebook - The ever-expanding and always on everyone's lips social network, Facebook has a well established application for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Geeks - This application allows you to stay in touch with all of your friends on Chris Prillo's social network, Geeks.

LinkedIn - The LinkedIn application allows you to view your professional social networking profile anytime you want from anywhere.

MySpace Mobile - Send and receive messages, leave comments, add new photos to your MySpace account and more.

Netlog - Gives you access to your Netlog social network account. Browse your friends' photos, sign their guestbooks, send messages and more.

Xing - Keep up with your business network even while you are on the go by seeing what they are up to, reading and responding to messages and more.

Social Recommendations







Glue - An application companion for the Firefox Glue extension. See what books your friends are reading, where they like to eat and a whole lot of other information.

Graffitio - Based on the old New York City subway graffiti codes, Graffitio allows you to leave information about locations for others to pick up when they enter the application for the area they are in.

Grassr Library - Review books, CDs, movies and more, and then share them with your friends.

LivingSocial - Review many different types of items such as video games, books, music and more and then share the information on various social networks, and meet people with similar interests.

Interested in more free iPhone resources? Check these out:

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, AndrewJohnson