Social Network Overload
August 8, 2008
I think I have officially crossed the line of sanity with regards to Social Networking Sites. I need a “Social Network Secretary” just to keep track of them all. And I know I am not making best use of them – I’m not “working” them like the master networkers do.
If you think I am exaggerating here is a partial list of the sites I belong to, who are either self-proclaimed Social Networking Sites or have evolved in that direction:
- Plaxo
- Linkedin (and several subgroups of Linkedin)
- Brightfuse
- Myspace
- Brijj
- Ning (and several subgroups of Ning)
- Salesconx
- TooStep
- Konnects
- Jigsaw
- GoodTree
- YourCause
I am drowning in emails asking for connections, adds, or to help find someone to fill an open job req. And I am overloaded. I love the concept, I do. I just need to figure out how to manage it all. And to that end, I invite suggestions and comments.
One must remember that even though they use the word “Social” in their descriptions and often have a lot of “Social” activity – the sites were meant to fill a functional need. The tools are not universally compatible. They allow you to plunder your MS Outlook contact list, but are not very easily downloaded back to that list (for example I fried the motherboard of my favorite laptop last winter and would have greatly benefited from being able to recreate my contact list on my new laptop). Some of the lists give you a certain amount of privacy, others let it all hang out – so to speak.
The members are as varied as the applications – some are avid “collectors” of connections – some do not respond to polite inquiry of any kind.
At some point I expect that there will be a collapse of the sites, and one or two major players will emerge. But I don’t think it will be the big guys that are in the ring right now… somewhere someone with a fresh approach and the ability to accommodate a variety of true networking needs will rise to the occasion and blow the others out of the water.
In the meantime, I am grateful for my rolodex – which is how I still keep track of my website memberships and passwords even in this electronic age. I will continue to slog through the sites, looking for my Xanadu of networking.
ADDENDUM: 8/26/08 – http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/steering-between-unsocial-networks-and-social-spam/ This is the other big issue with Social Networking…well, one of the other issues.
