Why Social Networks Fail

Identity management is what we all do, every day, consciously or unconsciously. We do it in-person, in face-to-face meetings at work, with our friends, and yes, even with our partners and lovers.

But we do the vast majority of it consciously online. Identity management is simply the curation of the details of your life — what you choose to share, when and with whom. We’re doing it when we share a link on Facebook, or a video on YouTube. What network do we share this with? Who will see it? What will they think of us because we shared it?

When social networks are small and have small amounts of people in it — maybe just a few trusted friends are connected to you on the network — you spend a lot less time on identity management. You know this small group of people, and you know how they feel and think about things. You know if you share a dirty joke with them, they’ll laugh — not get offended.

As an online social network grows and we gain more and more friends on it, it starts to include co-workers and friends we don’t know as well. Maybe we add a few old acquaintances. And even a family member or two. Suddenly, we’re no longer sure how they might take a dirty joke, or when we share a political link. Will some in the group be offended?

Because eventually you have so many friends that you can't post anything without fear of offending someone and the image-management becomes to stressful.