I think the problem is that everyone hears about how great social media is, so we all rush in blindly and sign up to everything and everyone initially.

It’s only after time that we realize what works best for us and who relates to us (and we to them) the most.

Until that moment, our networks will grow bigger and we will lose sight of why we connected in the first place.

However, once we have that “Eureka moment” and understand where we want to be going with social media, there’s always the housecleaning button known as Delete

I’ve read quite a few posts about the ‘quality vs quantity’ debate but your take has been quite comprehensive and interesting.

I agree with all the points especially 1,2 and 6

I too realized that each site/service has a culture and wrote about it as well
http://mayank.name/blog/2008/04/04/websites-have-cultures-too/ .

The “cool kids phenomenon” is more widespread than what people think and they are very few users who genuinely understand, appreciate and stick to a service because of the benefits it offers, mostly just follow the their friends/colleagues or A-listers.

Another interesting pattern is that people once connected on a network/site tend to connect with the same people on other networks as well. Will write a post about this sometime.

Thanks for sharing.

While our ambient attention tools help this happen, the face to face seems to cement it for me- I can immediately pick up more nuance about a person, a sense of who they are, then I will ever get from a tweet alone. What do you think?

@Taylor- I definitely think it’s about placing billboards in lots of places, but focusing your main energy in a handful. Maximize return that way, and just point the other billboards towards your main stuff.

This follow-up to my post is great! I’ve bookmarked it so that I can come back to it. I love the analogies you’ve used here and I can agree with the rules you’ve named. Some of them I’ve written about at one time or another. This line really got me thinking though:

“The quality of the conversations may still be great, it may be a great way to source information quickly, but at 15,000, you are dealing with Crowdsourcing, not friendship any longer.”

So many great points and interesting research. It seems to me, as I’ve developed somewhat of an online marketing company for different bands, the market is so fractured that bands get frustrated and sometimes feel the need to “give up” because it is such a lot of information to filter and process, as well as disseminate.

I know I’ve had to let go and realize that focusing on 6-10 social networking sites is infinitely more productive than shot-gunning the message. I’m not saying don’t have a presence on each website, but focus your energies where it is most logical.

I understand when people don’t “get” certain social networks at first, because it takes some time to learn the culture of them, to feel like one of the crowd, just like the first day of school- finding your peeps isn’t always easy or comfortable.

Once you find your peeps, though, things hum along great, but sooner or later, things get big and unwieldy, and we’re back to looking for small and intimate again.

I think this cycling back and forth between big and small makes things difficult for people seeking to create a “perfect” social media solution on the web, or a viral site, for that matter. Expansion can be good, but with a limited amount of space to really tack people, we have to make choices and do what works for each of us, without assuming our way is the only way as well-you are exactly right.

The points you raise I think are very valid and something I wrestle with every day.

I also think what people need to realize is that different people treat different social networks differently and there is NOT a right and a wrong way so people should not criticize others.

I use Facebook in one manner, but use Plaxo and LinkedIn very differently.

I’m happy that services such as SocialThing and FriendFeed are helping to combine and pull together information. I know I’m using both of these to REALLY follow the people that I want to pay the closest attention to.

I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of conversation this post sparks because you made great points (as always).