Hi, My name is Andy, and I am a Social Site Addict.
If there is a new site, chances are I am on it or will be shortly. From Twitter, to Pownce, from Jaiku to Plurk, From Rejaw to Delicious, if it is out there I will find it, join it, use it for 15 minutes and probably move on to another. I have accounts for sites I have visited once or twice (Newsvine for example) and others I visit semi-regularly (Plurk is good example there) and others I watch all the time, but can't keep straight (definitely Twitter for that one.) When you consider all of these sites along with LinkedIn, MySpace, Orkut, Facebook, Ning (a social network for social networks), Hi5, etc, I really think I may need help sorting them all out. If you are brave, click on the link to the retaggr site and expand my profiles line, and that isn't even all of them. I have so many sites I would go crazy if I didn't have 1Password to help me keep the passwords/IDs straight. To make it even more confusing, I have some sites updating others and some sites only accepting updates from others, and MOST sites, i update from Ping.fm without even visiting the site (which is counter to the original purpose of those sites being social in the first place.) I know I am not alone in this as I see dazed people all of the time, floating from Twitter to FriendFeed, to Pownce, et al.
All of this social exposure has lead me to stop and contemplate for a few moments on the state of social sites on the Net these days. I am beginning to wonder just how many really SHOULD be in the "must join" list, and which sites I should kick to the curb as a "social reject"? I think we are so "engaged" we have stretched ourselves socially thin. I also believe we need to really evaluate where we have joined and where we should join to determine if we will get what we need from the site, or if we should ignore that new shiny invite waiting in our inbox.
Since I am already a junkie with more site memberships that should be legally allowed, I have decided to "take one for the team." Over the next few weeks, I will start reviewing the social sites I am a member of currently as well as new ones I come across in my travels on the Wonderfully Weird Web. I am adding a page on this site containing all of the Links as I review them along with my label of either "Social Must" or "Social Reject" I also welcome your comments on my reviews as well as suggestions for more sites to review as we go along. Share your thoughts with me and we will see if we can't help those poor souls coming after us to avoid the social addiction we have committed ourselves to for the foreseeable future.
NOW I feel like part of the CROWD! Thanks Andy. I thought my addiction was abnormal, but it just the NEW NORM.
Enjoyed reading!
Thanks.
Dave
Posted by: limey59 | November 30, 2008 at 12:03 PM