Things usually start innocently enough, typically with an email from a friend about some cool new site you should check out.

Obviously after debating whether it's real or spam, and weighing the odds they've just sent you something that would get you a demerit from Human Resources, you check it out.

And it's yet another social network.

There are a lot of social networks out there now, and the real question is - how do you juggle it?

Just stop and think about all the networks you use or have been invited to in the last two years: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and the list goes on and on. Thats not even counting the number of social media sites that allow you to connect with people, places like Flickr, YouTube, and Pandora.

It's hard to deny that these sites offer something cool and innovative - a chance to interact with new people and stay in touch with your friends. We all know people who have stories about getting connected with an old grade school classmate, exchange student friend or someone else long considered gone.

At the same time, the criticisms - what are these sites really good for and isn't it all about vanity - continue to be brought up.

But when do we reach the point of too many? The central question in today's iHerald is does "social networking fatigue" exist, or is it just another Internet meme destined for the same recycling bin as "Peanut Butter Jelly Time?"

One of the biggest issue with social networking sites is the time involved. You can easily waste hours on any one of the sites and have accomplished nothing.

I don't have the answers, but there are three reasons I started thinking about the idea of social networking fatigue:

Bacn, the new term being thrown around to describe all those notifier and invitation e-mails you get from social networking sites.

8hands, an application that promises to consolidate your "lifestream" by creating a single access point for all your social networking sites.

Goodreads. A few months ago a friend sent me an invitation to this new site, a social network for book lovers. The interface is simple but the premise is interesting. Using your taste and your friends you can find new things to read, which, can be tough. You of course can also meet others who are into the same books you are. Now, I have no problem with any of this, but after registering I just had a hard time staying on top of it and really started to abandon the site.

Then one thing dawned on me, the site would be an excellent way to keep track of all the books I see in stories, hear about on the radio or on blogs and other sites. Instead of writing down the title on a piece of paper destined to get lost, now I could just look it up on Goodreads and have a list always there.

So let me ask, how many networks do you belong to? How do you manage it? What's the weirdest site you've been invited to? Do you think there will ever be a backlash to all the different sites offered now?

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