Those incessant commercials for "The Social Network" serve to drive home the fact that Facebook was known as "The Facebook" early on. And it got me thinking about Facebook imitators - not only other social networks, but everything else billed as "the Facebook of" whatever.

They're no harder to find than your favorite Facebook lurker.

Actor Edward Norton recently launched Crowdrise, called the "Facebook of good deeds." (What's the first rule of Crowdrise? "If you don't give back no one will like you." It's actually on the homepage.)

An article in Fortune calls SparkPeople the "Facebook of dieting." Fat chance.

Created by the cut-ups at College Humor, "The Facebook of Genesis" is as blasphemous as you might imagine, as well as amusing and slightly NSFW.

A blogger asks, "Is Demand Media the Facebook of content?" ... No, Demand Media is the Facebook from Hell for Impoverished Writers. (I kid, Joanne, don't delete my resume.)

(2010's 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries)

A Slate blogger wonders, "Are tapas the Facebook of food?" ... No, again, although I wasn't sure until Googling the word tapas and discovering it means small appetizers in both Spanish and at your local fern bar. Why would appetizers be the Facebook of food? From that post: "Beleaguered chains 'are trying just about anything. They're particularly eager to attract socially minded millennials who are just as comfortable sharing a plate of food as they are sharing social media.' " ... Bet the writer pulled a muscle on that stretch.

"GeoCities was, in its way, the Facebook of its time," writes All Things Digital's Kara Swisher on the day time ended for GeoCities (everywhere but in Japan).

"The Facebook of 1784" was the Facebook of an even earlier time. Unless William Bradford meant it to be the Foursquare of its time. Had elements of both.

It is suggested here that Apple Game Center may become "the Facebook of mobile gaming," but I have to believe that Steve Jobs will insist we call Facebook the Apple Game Center of social networking.

NetworthIQ is said to be "the Facebook of finance" for those who are not shy about sharing the details of their financial ups and downs. Count me out.

As often as not, achieving "the Facebook of" status requires nothing more than a marketer's self-assurance, witness: "Welcome to CaribPlanet.com - The FACEBOOK of the Caribbean!" (Man, I could go for a boat drink.)

I learned that MyCollegeBookshop.com is "the Facebook of bookselling" from this post on the Facebook of Facebook.

Writes Daniel Drezner in Foreign Policy magazine: "The U.S. dollar is the Facebook of hard currencies." How so? "Social networking technologies, like reserve currencies, have a peculiar quality -- they are more useful when more people use them." ... Better than that tapas stretch.

Red Hat is the Facebook of software, according to Red Hat Chief Executive Jim Whitehurst. Or maybe it's the Wikipedia of software; he wasn't quite clear.

Zakta might be the Facebook of search in much the same way that virtually everything is the Google of something or other.

The Census of Marine Life is actually "The Facebook of Marine Life," according to an article on livemint.com that conjures up images of dolphins friending giant squid.

We've got land and sea covered here, as "AgLoop has been called the 'Facebook of Agriculture' "

Openstudy.com is "the Facebook of studying," says The Crimson White, a student publication at the University of Alabama. Not to be negative, but I don't see this one becoming a Hollywood movie.

And finally, there are any number of Web sites laying claim to being the Facebook of sex, none of which I dare link to here. ... But you might enjoy this pertinent xkcd strip.

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