Over the weekend, there was a brief flurry of blog activity because some of the popular kids decided they’d had enough of Facebook because they were too popular and couldn’t handle all the activity (no, I’m not going to link – if they can’t manage the traffic, why make it worse?). This led to some broader discussion of social network fatigue. It seems that some people find the social networks – Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, or what-have-you – to be such a burden that they get overwhelmed and need to drop out to reclaim their lives and retain their sanity.
There are many reasons why this can happen. Perhaps people lose sight of their original goal in joining a network, and start treating it as a competitive exercise in collecting the most “friends” without regard for any actual value. Perhaps the lack of tools for organizing and prioritizing the traffic in most social networks makes them harder to manage. Or perhaps the social network is just the pet rock of this decade and people are moving on to the next trend.
But perhaps the problem is overblown, and it’s only a few web celebrities who can’t cope with the price of fame? That’s why we’re asking you, dear readers: are you experiencing any social network fatigue? Have you pulled back or dropped out of any of your networks? Or are you still happily networking, whatever angst the A-list may be indulging in this week?
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