Have We Got “Social Networking Overload”?

I remember back when I first started to join the social networking scene, I was a college student, and I had just created my account on MySpace. After that, I was hooked and got really involved in networking with my fellow collegians, as well as frequently updating the design and other cosmetic features on my page. Then, a few years later, my college had just acquired its network for a new kid on the block… Facebook. After I signed up for this new service, I started to think to myself “Isn’t this doing the same thing as MySpace?” Now, in 2011, we now have so many social networks, we cannot count all of them on our fingers and toes. With this premise, instead of Bing’s “Search Overload,” have we got “Social Networking Overload”?

Are there too many social networks? Let us know your reaction!

I know that there are social networks out there created more for centralized niches, such as LinkedIn (geared for business) and Meetup (geared for event planning); however, if you look at a large list of the most-popular social networks, aren’t they all doing the same thing in attempt to achieve the same goal? Even the public is starting to think that there are too many social networks as well:

While Facebook’s userbase progressed throughout the years, MySpace’s popularity started to head southward (shown in the graph below). As of this past Wednesday, it was announced that Justin Timberlake (along with Specific Media) acquired MySpace to help gain its popularity back again. The search giant Google also has plans for its recently announced Google+ project to be a new wave of social networking. This means that one social network will be resurrected, while another social network (from a major company) joins the game.

To see a full list of social networks (submitted by the WebProNews community), check out our directory’s Social Networks category. There are more social networks than you think, and one for almost every niche.