Facebook – one more time, with feeling

Although it’s not explicitly or exclusively about Facebook, Daniel Terdiman’s post about the plague of social networking invitations is relevant to the who “will Facebook survive?” discussion.  I can definitely relate to the angst he describes at being presented with a new invitation — or, in the case of LinkedIn, a reminder that “Five billion new people have joined your network!!”.  Though I don’t get battered with invitations the way many do, whenever I get a request from someone I haven’t spoken to in 15 years, I experience a moment’s exasperation.  Do I add this person to avoid seeming snooty or rude, even though I have no real interest in connecting with them, or do I slough them off and risk drawing the ire of the universe?