Before I read this post, I’ve registered to almost all of it. Now I’m still active with 2-4. You wouldn’t know which will suites you better. At least you will have new contacts from each one of the account and that’s worth registering.

That’s precisely my point.

If you aren’t sure which social network will get the best results, it’s worth the 2-3 mins to sign up for accounts at each of the major networks, then research which will give the best fit for your business.

You can’t/won’t/don’t know ahead of time which has the best fit, so it’d be worth the 30mins – 1 hour to sign up for 10-20 different accounts if needed.

In the worst case scenario, this prevents “social network squatters” from hoarding the twitter.com/(your brand name) account and gives you a fighting chance to rank for it, even if you aren’t active on every network.

–
In the end, you’d probably actively manage 2-5 accounts.

Quite possibly the worst advice I’ve heard. How about doing some research and seeing what medium would be best for you and your needs?

Mastering three or four is far more effective than spreading yourself too thin on everything and struggling to gain traction.

It seems to me that many people are there for social reasons. No surprise as this is called the social media landscape. Then there are those who intend to develop a new or existing business. Another large category is those advocating a cause.

Your purpose for being there makes a difference on how you proceed and where you spend your time.