Liking, Tweeting and Pinning – are there too many social networks?

I’ll quite happily admit to signing myself up to, or downloading an iPhone app, to check out each and every new social networking fad – and in recent years there have been many of these. They say variety is the spice of life, however even I am now starting to question; are there simply too many social networks?

Over the last month or so there has been a lot of 'next Facebook' buzz around online pinboard service Pinterest. I, like many early adopters, signed up and set up boards of interest (any Sheffield Wednesday fans out there can check out my board here) but who knows whether I will have the same interest in the site in six months’ time.

The same can be said of my experience of other social networks over the last 12 months. I signed up to Google+ and Path (before its recent data privacy controversy), but after an initial burst of enthusiasm I found myself using them less and less. Even Foursquare, where I had amassed a load of mayorships and badges (which I am still proud of I’ll have you know) has seen a significant reduction of usage from me.

So despite new social networks emerging seemingly every day (hot tips currently seem to be ‘people discovery’ services such as Highlight and Glancee), the fact is I only really remain loyal to Facebook and Twitter, with Instagram being a new permanent entrant on my social networking hit parade. Maybe the problem is I simply don’t have the time these days to properly engage with social networking sites like I did in the past.   Or is it that we have reached a tipping point when it comes to social networking, as there seems to be less and less differentiation between services these days?  I can’t be the only person out there thinking it is time to go with quality over quantity, so for social networks it really will be a case of survival of the fittest.

(Image: mkhmarketing.wordpress.com)