Social Networks: Is there a Saturation Point?

Social Networks: Is there a Saturation Point?

Social Networks are continuing to be a very popular way of talking online to fellow friends and family. Facebook is the prime example of this, with LinkedIn set up for professionals, and Twitter for short, sharp messages to fellow followers. There are also many photo sharing sites for users to share photos, as well as video sharing sites such as YouTube. Google + have just entered the social network market, but there is a new arrival possibly on the horizon. This is from Microsoft, and will be another social networking site, with Microsoft currently calling the service “Socl”. The service will be tested publicly, but Microsoft has yet to announce a date. A video discussing this news is on the Mashable website and can be located here.

By Microsoft and now Google joining in on the social networking market, is this market now getting too saturated. Although I have listed some of the social networking websites above, this only touches the surface. According to Wikipedia, there are currently 201 social networks currently active in the world. Some of these social networks are for a niche market, but this does highlight the question? Do we need another new social networking site called “Socl”. LinkedIn CEO certainly believes that even just adding Google + to the growing list of social networking platforms is causing further saturation as he believes that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn cater for everyone’s needs. However, as this is just his opinion, do you agree or disagree with this? I certainly believe that a new social network from Microsoft is unnecessary.

Being members of multiple social networks means logging onto every social network individually. Generally people will use a friend and family stream (Facebook), professional streams (LinkedIn), an instant messaging streaming service (Twitter), and possibly a photo sharing stream. YouTube could also be factored in. http://www.simplyzesty.com/social-media/social-media-overload-too-many-streams/ suggests creating your own hub where all your streams can be accessed via one login screen instead of logging into 5 social networking applications individually. Do you believe consolidating your social networks in one place is the way to go? More importantly, do you think that the social networking market is now too saturated? Also, do you believe that Socl could be a success or a failure?

References:-

http://www.quora.com/Are-there-too-many-social-networking-sites

http://thesocialcustomer.com/todaymade/39773/are-there-too-many-social-networks

http://www.toprankblog.com/2011/01/social-media-overload/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/linkedin-ceo-no-space-for-google-in-social-network-arena-52508/

http://www.simplyzesty.com/social-media/social-media-overload-too-many-streams/

http://mashable.com/2011/11/16/microsoft-social-network/