I also think that’s crucial to focus on your own website and that the social network platforms are the places where you can reach an audience. From there you must guide them to your own online ‘real estate’. In my opinion, the future will bring more integration of the big social networks into specific community sites which concentrate on particular interests or topics.

To elaborate on the bar metaphor: Facebook or Twitter are like hip bars where everybody is hanging out nowadays, just because … everybody is there. But the hip factor of bars doesn’t always last for long. On the other hand we network in the basket ball club, or the chess club, or as fans of a band, because that’s a mutual interest we share for quite a long time. I think we should work on online versions of the basket ball clubs, communities which are interest-centered but linked with the big platforms (Facebook etc.). At this moment social networking is largely interest-neutral and platform-dependent.

Enough philosophical theory! As a musician I was confronted with the problem of managing all my profiles (a couple of them are mentioned in the chart) and I started an online dashboard tool for that. We are still working on it, but you can keep up to date if you subscribe to the blog or follow us on Twitter: @mmmotioncom

Offline, this is like comparing social media sites to the bars, etc., where you can hook up; your website is your home. While it’s nice to know that I might connect with you at these social media sites, its important–to me, at least–to know where you live.

Or maybe I’m just a crazy old man!