When I wrote about social network fatigue last year, my post sparked a pretty lively debate at a time when even some of the most ardent social media gurus were questioning whether anyone really has enough time, patience or attention to play with all the shiny new toys that Web 2.0 throws our way.

The issue, as I saw it then, was captured nicely in an email that I wrote to Valeria Maltoni, and that she used in her post about fatigue:

"One biggish issue that nobody is really talking about is that anyone who starts using more than one of these services (or multiple social networks, sharing sites, etc) finds herself with multiple circles of friends, constantly updating various profiles/status posts, etc - there isn't any way for a user to bring all of their stuff/friendships/updates together in a single interface â€" which can be a real pain if you're in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Flickr, Photobucket, YouTube and del.icio.us. YIKES!"

Well, 2008 may be the year social network fatigue comes to a head and the issue of data portability (literally, a user's ability to use and move a single set of profile data and shared media across all of their social media hang-outs) will most likely be a hot topic. There are tons of unanswered questions -- such as who actually owns the data we mindlessly upload to social networks, what are the privacy issues and risks inherent in this, what will it take to get everyone to cooperate, etc. -- but, if nothing else, data portability means less social network fatigue.

This great video for DataPortability.org tells the story and makes a pretty compelling case.

DataPortability - Connect, Control, Share, Remix from Smashcut Media on Vimeo.

On the other hand (and a lighter note), maybe the problem is us. Check out this fun mock-PSA from Jeff Sass, featuring a gaggle of Boston area social media types including fellow crayonista Scott Monty.

[Note to feed and email readers: this post includes two videos. Please click through to the blog in order to view them.]