Social Networks: How Much Is Too Much?

I read a lot of industry news everyday and the one thing I read about more than anything (because I simply can't avoid it) is social networks. If they're not announcing a new social network they're announcing that they're hiring programmers to help build a social network. So, I started to wonder, how many social networks are out there?

Turns out: a lot. Here's Wikipedia's list. It's important to note that this list does not extrapolate on smaller networks within sites like Ning and is probably missing quite a few. So, I started to wonder, how many social networks are too many?

Turns out: I have no idea. That's a tough question to answer. Heck, even Vampire Freaks, the social networks for goths, has a purported 1M+ members. So are social networks doing the same thing that newspapers figured out how to do a long time ago? Localize?

Newspapers survive because they create content relevant to their local readers. According to eMarketer local online advertising spending in 2006 was $2.1B, in 2007 it's on track to be $2.9B and they are projecting $7.8B by 2011.

My belief is, if advertisers are spending money in a sector, that sector is working. The same trend is found in social networks. People with a particular interest are drawn to social networks that cater to that interest.

So, maybe the question shouldn't be how many social networks are too many, but how many special interests exist? Turns out: it's probably quite a few.