The article does a nice job of laying out a few approaches. There are as many approaches to connecting online as there are sites. Camille Brown says, 

"A year ago it wasn't really geared toward business, but in the past six months it's been turning into that. The amount of contacts you can have -- you can send out a bulletin about your show, and all of your friends, whether it's 1,000 people or whatever, can find out about it. You can reach so many people." 

Business and tickets sales are definitely a driving force. However, there are many other aspects to connecting online. When Jennifer Alexander died in a car crash this December, the dance community paid tribute to her on The Winger. The posts were touching, thoughtful, and caring.