Most people who have caught the "social networking" bug have joined dozens of networks in order to make additional "friends" or "connections" to people that they previously had no idea existed. If you follow the 6-degrees of separation formula to its logical conclusion, pretty soon we will all have 6.7 billion (estimated current World population) "friends." Then what?
My suggestion? Instead of trying to grow the number of connections you have, spend time growing the number of meaningful, productive relationships that already exist in your life. How connected are you to your family? Your neighbors? Co-workers?
How about getting more involved with civic groups through volunteering?
Sure, Groupsites can help you meet new people from all over the world. But they can also help you foster real relationships that have nothing to do with keyboards, software, widgets or even computers. Groupsites have to do with people.
Over 80% of Groupsites are created by private, professional groups who are not looking to grow or be found by others. Of course, I get a few dozen calls every day from some budding young entrepreneur who thinks they have the next new way to connect millions of random people and sell them ads they don't want to see. But once we all get over the faddish excitement of "Web 2.0" as an end in itself -- as opposed to simply another tool (which is all it really is) -- we will begin to make choices about how we spend our time and who we spend it with.
Trust. Communication. Responsibility. Sharing. Relationships that help make things happen.
That's what matters.