A big question for many businesses is how many, and which, social media sites to be active on. There are plenty to choose from and they all offer something a little different. So how many should you use? One, two, five, ten? That's a loaded question that depends on a lot of factors. My best answer is this: As many as you can possibly justify.

You should definitely be on multiple sites! That is imperative in my opinion. Why? Because you need to diversify your assets.

If you only have enough time and resources to manage two sites, then do those two really well. If you can handle 10 sites comfortably, then go for it! Get your presence out there in as many ways as you can.

I commented on someone's post on Facebook the other day and it generated this thought process (and a polite response from me). She had asked her audience of nearly 2000 fans how severely they would be affected if Facebook closed down tomorrow, on a scale from 1 -10. Only a few people responded, including myself. I said I would be affected about a 3-4 range. And I explained that answer with the following statement: "I do get some good traffic from Facebook and I have a lot of connections here. But I also connect with most of those people on other platforms as well. So I wouldn't lose those connections."

See, in my opinion, losing Facebook wouldn't hurt me, and that's a good thing! I have said this in past blog posts and I will continue to say it: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. When it comes to social media, you are relying on someone else's hosted platform to handle your marketing. You don't get to make the decisions on what features they introduce. You don't get to tell them when to launch new services. And you certainly don't get to fight to keep the platform alive if they choose to shut it down. If it goes, so does all your work - and your connections!!

So, how to prevent this? You diversify. You put time and energy into multiple sites. You encourage your valuable connections to connect with you on multiple sites. You market yourself successfully on multiple sites. You protect yourself from any one site being your downfall!

Ok, so back to my story on Facebook. I was happy with my response. The page owner, however, noticing that those few people that responded, all put low numbers, responded with something that actually shocked me. She said that she was disappointed to hear that we would all be so minimally affected by Facebook closing down. She said that Facebook is where the traffic is and that if we wanted help to see Facebook make a difference in our business, that we should PM her and she would help us.

I had to actually take a minute, step away from the computer and take a few deep breaths. I try to avoid being one of those people who types in the heat of the moment, hitting "send" before rational thought has set in.

I realize that she was probably talking to the others, moreso than me. And was probably encouraging them to up their Facebook presence and their online marketing strategies. And, yes, I actually agree with this, in theory. But this was my rationalized response, not my initial response.

Here's why what she said took me so off guard. First, I'm proud of the fact that I would only be minimally affected by losing Facebook. And I had no qualms telling her this fact in response. As I mentioned above, I strive to make sure that my fans are connected beyond just one site. I refuse to rely on one site for all my traffic.

Second, how does she know where my traffic comes from? How does she know who my customers and key demographics are? How can she possibly say that Facebook is where the traffic is? Really? Only about 20% of my fans actually see any one of my posts. To me, those aren't great statistics, no matter how you look at it. Now, believe me, this isn't a bash against Facebook. I do get some great traffic from there and I love all of my fans that connect with me there. But a lot of Facebook fans actually started out as fans on other sites first.

I don't want to specifically pick on this person, and I don't claim (by any means) to know everything about social media. She very well may be very good at her job and may do very well for her clients. I could be totally off base with my theories about diversification (although investment advisers would probably agree with my methods). But this is my perspective.

So, I'd like to hear from you. What do you think? Do you diversify your online presence across multiple sites? How affected would you be if Facebook (or any other one single site) closed down tomorrow? Please leave your thoughts and comments in the comments below.