How many social networks does one need?

Every other day it seems another social network has popped onto the scene that is suppose to be bigger, better, more connected than the last one. True enough many of the features of those coming out are indeed very intriguing. Sure I may try one out and think it’s wonderful and far surpasses any that I have previously been using. But….then what?

So now I love this new tool. All my contacts are on the old one. Now I have to somehow convert my 200+ friends to drop the one they are on for the new one. Now I’m a “sales rep” for the new network. Some how I need to now convince all my friends that their old tool, that probably took them ages to get use too, is missing some great new features. Most of my friends aren’t too technically inclined. They like using the tools, but haven’t got time to be trying out everything to find the best one out there. On another hand, what might be a great set of features for me might be useless for my friend “Joe”.

I do seem to find that my “Blogging Friends” tend to move around from tool to tool. There are the early adapters that find the tools, there’s bunch of us that read about them on their blogs, then we try them out, start talking about them on our blogs, and then one of us inevitably presents on them at a conference. Finally, the rest of the e-learning community gets on board and someone then decides to write about another new tool they have found and we start all over again. My “Personal Friends” on the other hand…stick with the tools they know, that they have used for quite some time now, and are frankly quite happy with regardless of the silly videos, pictures, and chain messages that fly around.

I now have come to the realization that I am one of many that are trying everything out in the hopes that I can keep up with the latest trend regardless if it only lasts a day.