This morning I gave a warm welcoming address to a group of colleagues joining us from economic and social councils in the EU’s member states. These colleagues are the mistresses and masters of their councils’ websites. Since 2000 we and they have cooperated together in a network, ‘CESlink‘, of mutual information and document exchange. Today’s meeting is going to take a close look at the way we currently ‘do business’ in the light of two important surveys (one of public users, the other of the secretaries-general) that were recently carried out. What do we want of our network? What is expected of our network? Later, our guests will be addressed by the EESC’s Vice-President, Anna Maria Darmanin, who has enthusiastically embraced the social media (commendably, she Tweets, Facebooks and blogs). She will argue strongly, I am sure, for a more interactive approach. There was a time when the organisation of interactive initiatives could seem discouragingly complex and labour-intensive (I remember my own first, exhausting experiences in organising web chats) but the internet and software have evolved hugely and the problem now is more one of choosing among different possibilities. There was a very positive buzz in the meeting room as I left and I am sure that our specialists will have a very productive and creative working session.