Sunday 13 April 2008

Social Networn


Networn, originally uploaded by Me (?).

I invented a new word last week (technically 2 words but run with it):

so·cial net·worn
- adjective
1. Diminished in enthusiasm for participating in online social networking websites;

Derivatives:
1. social netweary (adj.); Fatigued by social network site participation.
2. social netwear (verb); The apathy about keeping your multiple social networking site profiles up to date.

Is it just me that is feeling like this? Not a month goes by without an invite from another newly discovered networking site from one of my friends. It also seems to go in phases. A few years ago it was Friends Reunited, then MySpace, then Flickr, then Facebook and now LinkedIn. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends but I actually like to see them in real life and talk to them in person rather than via a proxy website.

Wikipedia lists 116 social networking websites and I am a member of about 5 of them and a lapsed member of another 3 or so. This does not count the 3 different social networking sites we have on our company intranet.

Of all those sites, the only one I actually participate in any more is Flickr. This is mostly because I consider Flickr to be best place to backup, share and discover photos and not a social networking site. Flickr's social networking is secondary to having somewhere to put my photos and share them with the world and long may it stay that way!

Am I the only social netweary person out there?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hell yeah - getting a bit fed up with all the new ones popping up at work but unfortunately the work ones seem to be important to be "seen" in. WHERE do most people get time to participate in all of these? Maybe you're right, they don't have a real life. Also, Virtual Worlds. Similar concept (social networking in virtual worlds) but do I have time to BOTHER with them. Grrr, argh.