Is Social Media Already Over?
In a nutshell, no – social media is not already over. It is, however, most definitely over-saturated.
Look at the bottom of this post – you’ll see the nice little Share/Save icon, as well as footer options to share this post with your friends on Digg, Reddit, Mixx, Stumbleupon and Delicious (and please do feel free to forward this on – always appreciated!) 
Hover your mouse over the Share/Save icon and it opens up a whole host of other social media sites where you can submit this post to, should you so desire. Go one step further and click on the small downward arrow near the bottom of the Share/Save list. This offers even more social media sites to share this post with – well over 100, in fact.
This is too much (and a reminder to myself to edit the amount of Share This options). Who in their right mind would join 100+ social media sites? I think I may be on about 10 or so and even that feels a little too much, although I do use each end every one of the sites I’m on.
Mention social media and it’s pretty much guaranteed that these names will come out: Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Technorati, Mixx and Reddit. Yahoo Buzz is becoming more popular while newcomers to the scene like BackType and MeeID are starting to build up a nice head of steam.
But what about the others that make up this 100+ list? Have you heard of Pusha, or Gravee, or Yoolink? How about Twiddla or Taggly? Apart from having names that George Lucas might use in his next movie, the abundance of these social media sites are what’s causing people to be wary about stepping into the social media pool in the first place.
Look back through the ages and it’s clear that the most successful products or services were the ones with the fewest choices – VHS or Betamax video tape, Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo, cable or satellite TV and so on.
While there’s no doubting that social media offers a wonderful opportunity to truly open up the world to everyone for the first time ever, it’s also apparent that there needs to be a reining in of the services available. Yes, choice is great but not at the expense of scaring everybody away through confusion.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).
6 Responses to “Is Social Media Already Over?”
It’s certainly true that the ease in which to create a social media profile now – email and password – has led to the proliferation of sites available.
Hopefully, though, social media will go the same way as almost every other new trend has – quality over quantity. Then again, it didn’t work for Sony’s Betamax format…
Thanks for sharing your views.
FriendFeed allow you to add up to 43 services. I agree it does seems like that we arrived at a turning point.
KerenKeren Dagan´s last blog post..Blogging for AltSearchEngines and the quest behind the search
The entire situation reminds me of the search engine wars in the late 90′s. The explosion of such services most likely means that the market is about to mature.
Within the next period, we will see a series of players grabbing a more and more commanding lead, ultimately making the success of newcomers close to impossible.
Social media is waiting now for its Google.
Regards, George
@ George.
Valid comparison, George, and one that I agree with. There does seem to be a steady groundswell of services similar to the abundance of search engines towards the end of the 90′s. It’ll be interesting to see which service becomes this era’s Google, as you mention – I have a feeling it won’t be anyone we’re expecting.
Thanks for sharing.
The difficulty in predicting the likely winner is made more difficult by the fact that all ‘Web 2.0′ platforms will invariably be superseded by ‘Web 3.0′ applications. Search is slightly different, as such sites represent informational ‘gate keepers’. As such, these utilities are likely to remain a consumer imperative. Social platforms, such as social networks, are not as important to the user. As such, I can see social platforms quickly losing grounds to new applications as and when they appear. As far as I see it, the most important facet of ‘Web 2.0′ is the centrality of the conversation. Each of these applications offer conversational leverage. Web 2.0 is a social revolution, not necessarily a technical one. As such, I think that the next social applications are likely to reflect contemporary social thought.
Of particular interest is the fact that social media registration information requirements seem to be diminishing. Whilst traditionally registration processes were long and drawn out, a corollary of attempting to ‘lock-in’ the user, this no longer seems to be the case. Most communities now allow relatively simple sign up processes that take two or three minutes to complete. I assume that instead of relying upon lock-in as a means of reaching critical mass, social media platforms are instead opting for simple processes that either encourage multi platform use, or at least encourage users to try their offerings. Critical mass appears to count for very little in the current climate; sites like MySpace for instance are constantly losing ground to upstarts, at present the most notable of which is Facebook. If the registration processes remain as easy as they currently stand, I imagine that the number of social media sites will continue to increase.