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Sometimes using online social networks to stay in touch with friends is simply the best way to keep connected. Of course, as the accounts from various services begin to pile up, it seems pointless to try and maintain so many different profiles. The hunt is on for a social network standard that can integrate personal profiles, blogs, IMs, event notices, and music into packages that are just as comfortable on a phone as on a desktop. Here are some of the latest contenders:

Micro-Blogs

Twitter.com – With several different AIR desktop interfaces, a couple of Firefox plug-ins, and a sustained buzz, Twitter is already busy creating a “social sixth sense” (see: Clive Thompson's article in Wired). And if fast micro-blogging isn’t enough for you, you can always add on some bot friends (http://www.retweet.com) and use Twitter to be more
productive. You can also integrate Twitter into Myspace, Facebook, and Blogger.

Pownce.com - A new project from the brains and looks behind Digg.com, Pownce looks like its positioning to become a Twitter killer, with no restrictions on message length and the ability to send files and events across groups of friends that you designate. The free accounts have a 10mb limit for file transfers which can be expanded to 100 mb for $20 a year. This has a web interface and an AIR application for the desktop. You can read more here.

Tumblr.com – A micro-blogging service like Twitter, except it provides some inspiration by grouping your posts into one of six categories: Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, and Video. There’s also a Mac widget to make posting even faster. You can read more about it here.

Chat

Soapbox.net – Sorry, Mac users. This only works as a Windows-only desktop app for chatting with your Facebook friends. Unless it expands its support soon, it might find itself being replaced by…

Airwaves – An Adobe AIR application (which has yet to be released) that will allow a lightweight desktop app to handle chatting through Facebook on Windows and Macs.

Trillian Astra – This program is still in Alpha, but it promises not only to integrate IM services (AIM, MSN, Yahoo IM, Gtalk, Jabber, etc) into one easy interface as in previous versions, but the new Astra also allows for MySpace IM, a new service that just launched. As of the latest release, I still wasn’t able to connect to MySpace, but it seems that functionality is mixed for the other Alpha testers.

Meebo.com – Kind of like Trillian on the web, this allows you to consolidate all of your IM accounts into one Meebo account and chat over the web. This service is great for staying in touch while you’re away from your own computer.

SMS - Text Messaging

Dodgeball.com – This web-app lets you stay in touch with friends via SMS text messages to your cell phone in real time. It can use your phone’s GPS to let you know when one of your friends is nearby or if you have a friend-of-a-friend connection nearby. Oh, and it’s now owned by Google.

RememberTheMilk.com – Allows you to handle your tasks online, and send reminders via e-mail, IM, or SMS according to your own specs. I’ve only been using it for a few days, but I’m still having trouble getting the reminders to work.

Skype – Ah, yes. The free VoIP darling also allows you to send out SMS text messages to individuals or groups of friends.

So far, there’s still no killer app, but it is getting easier to consolidate accounts and stay current with your friends, wherever they are. And if you want to stay up on the latest news for online social networks, you can keep your eyes on mashable.com. In the meantime, feel free to check out any of my myriad sites to get a feel for what some of these services can do.