Are you overwhelmed by Twitter? Or maybe you are looking for more sites that you can participate in? Well I might have a solution for you.

It is a little site called Sprouter.com.

They launched as a private beta site back in early 2009. But then they opened to the public back in November 2009.
For a seasoned Twitter user it will look very similar since it has a few of the same qualities. Things like 140 character limits and hashtags are the same as Twitter.

There are a couple of small differences as well. One thing is that Sprouter has not yet been “discovered” by millions of people. Now you might think this is not a good thing.

But it can be a good thing if you think about it. Many people are simply overwhelmed by Twitter. The “Twitter Stream” is flowing at a million miles an hour and even if you are only following a few people you can quickly get overwhelmed by the speed at which it moves.
Sprouter.com on the other hand as of now is a quiet little site that still has enough traffic and accounts to keep you busy.
They also have an event feature that is built in and kind of cool. You can enter the name of your event and some details like location, description, date and a special hashtag then post it. People can see your event and choose to follow it to see what is going on or they can even RSVP right on Sprouter.com letting you know that they are planning to attend.

They encourage people to interact and ask questions of the Sprouter community. And as a member of the community they encourage you to help by answering questions that other members post.
Sprouter.com’s focus is the business community and they say in their about us section:
Sprouter facilitates networking and collaboration between entrepreneurs globally. Providing a platform for users to connect with other innovators, entrepreneurs can expand their networks to include fellow entrepreneurs and startups with similar interests and goals. By answering the question “What are you working on?” in 140 characters or less entrepreneurs can discover and join events in their local areas, start discussions and follow topics of relevance to their business.

Another plus to Sprouter.com not being flooded yet is that you may still find the address you want. Twitter has millions of users, multi-millions. This means that some people are having to be very creative with their Twitter “handle” in order to get something even remotely understandable.
With Sprouter having 10,000+ users the likelyhood that your desired account name is available is much more likely to be possible.
You can click the Everyone link on your profile page to see a stream of all members of Sprouter or click Following to only see the stream of the people you are following. You can also create Filters (Like lists on Twitter) so you can see only people you have put into that Filter.
One unique point on how Sprouter.com uses hashtags is that you can actually follow a hashtag so you can see everything that is going on within that tag.

So if you are looking for a new site to add to your marketing mix or if you are just looking for a site that is not as “noisy” as Twitter I highly recommend this little startup. I see it’s potential to do great things in the future of social media.