There appears to be a growing dissatisfaction, and a rather public one at that, among users of social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Ironically, people are using these very networks to voice their opinions, which range from issues about poor security to being bombarded with too many ads; and not to mention the stress of coping with a high maintenance digital lifestyle. One can’t help but ponder whether the entire social media sphere is skating on thin ice or if people are biting the hand that digitally feeds them.

“Facebook only came into existence in 2004 and already has half a billion users.  That's a twelfth of the planet,” notes Phil Shaw from Synovate’s Digital Centre of Excellence. Numerous issues are bound to come up because that’s a lot of people to please from one site alone. Shaw believes that part of the problem could be Facebook’s constant facelifts to its site. “They often introduce what they see as improvements to the site and some people don't like changes to what they're used to. Facebook has also received criticism for its complex privacy settings and for introducing new features that people need to opt out of rather than into. This is challenging the trust some people have in the site,” says Shaw.

Data privacy has always been and will continue to be a major sore point for the entire social networking arena, especially as people are putting more and more personal information online. If confidential information from photos of a wild night out to personal information about one’s lifestyle was viewed by employers, parents, creepy stalkers or just got into the wrong hands, it would be disastrous for that person.

On the other hand, Shaw points out that discontent with these networks may simply brew from excessive spam or as a direct result of services offered that just become annoying – like endless status updates. Clearly some people have too much time to kill, whereas others struggle to keep up with their friends. Has the novelty of communicating online run out?

“I think Facebook has such dominance that it would take a lot more dissatisfaction for people to stop using it,” Shaw says. MySpace has lost its lustre to an extent, and other sites like LinkedIn and Twitter don’t quite offer the all-encompassing features that Facebook members are accustomed to. Shaw is confident that social media sites will adapt; and notes that location based services like Foursquare and Gowalla are increasing in popularity. “Facebook has just introduced Facebook Places in response. It's likely Facebook will quickly develop and integrate new technology as it appears, which will keep them number one for a long time yet,” he adds.

At the moment, there seems to be no escaping social media, to do so would be social suicide, self-excommunication and let’s be honest, even the most devout recluse is on Facebook or Twitter, albeit incognito. We want to know what’s going on, where’s the party at and who is having the most fun. “Humans are social creatures and these sites facilitate and extend our natural desire to interact with others. They enable us to comment, share, create and discuss things that we care about or enjoy and have made it incredibly easy to do so and both within and beyond our immediate friendship circles,” says Shaw.