Yesterday I received an automated email telling me that “Christina would like to connect with [me] on Goodreads.” I had to think: is this spam? (apparently not). Do I know "Christina?" (yes). Do I know what Goodreads is? (kind of...it's coming back to me now...).

I went to college with this person, so we’re friends in “real life.” We’re Facebook friends. I read her blog every once in a while since she’s doing some sort of Americorps project in Texas and I haven’t seen her for a year. Now we’re “friends” on Goodreads.com. Yet another online social network. I had forgotten all about Goodreads—a quick glance at my profile shows the last time I added books was in July of last year--probably because another friend sent an email "inviting" me to join, and I was compelled to fill out a half-assed profile and promptly forget about it.
I had to create a LibraryThing account last fall for a class, which I haven’t updated since I was required to do so. Pretty much the same thing as Goodreads--maybe each has a unique feature or two, but the idea is the same.

It made me wonder how many profiles and accounts I have floating around out there in the void, with various amounts of personal (or fake personal) information attached to them. That thought prompted me to type my name into Google (come on, you've done it too) to see what else I might have signed up for and forgotten about.

I wonder about the people who create new online social networks. Do they think can offer something that’s not already out there?

When can we say, “enough is enough?”