 |
|
Similar sites focusing on business networking also have sprung up. People join to promote their business and find new employment opportunities. They also can be used to find professional services through acquaintances.
A smart networking within your business community could be your big ticket to become a multi-millionaire. With internet connectivity at offices and homes, keeping in constant touch with like minded people to share ideas and information with each other is no more a problem. And we are not talking of emails and chats.
The Internet can be a powerful tool for business networking, but skeptics are concerned about giving out sensitive information.
In the absence of radio play, garage bands all across America are establishing a presence on MySpace, a social-networking site popular with young adults. Traditionally, bands toured cities and played dive bars to create buzz about their music. But with MySpace, bands can host demos of their songs, announce shows and connect with fans without spending weeks on the road.
“We’ve developed communities for unknown bands really quickly, which would take a lot longer a few years back,” said Alan Miller, co-founder of Filter magazine, which last month teamed up with MySpace to develop The Booth, an online promotion featuring a different band each week.
“It’s a medium where people can go and hear new music and develop an attachment to the band,” said Miller.
MySpace is aimed at teenagers. It claims more than 15 million members, and even established acts like Weezer, Beck and Billy Corgan are starting to realize the potential of social networking.
For job seekers and recruiters, online social networking sites are yet another platform to find the right fit. The key benefit of a social networking site is the credibility it offers, as the online contact is generated by a common link or referral. Some of the social networking companies includes names such as LinkedIn, Ryze, Orkut, ZeroDegrees, Friendster and Tribe. These sites are based on Stanley Milgram’s 1967 research which asserted that people in the world are separated by no more than six degrees. The chances of getting a response from those you don’t know through e-mail and telephone is negligible, but LinkedIn users have got responses which are as high as 83 percent. And this is where social networking sites score over cold calls.
[Referring short post here.]
The possible big bang in social networking has not happened: no one has gained the critical mass needed to clearly demonstrate some transformative business case. What I don’t understand is why haven’t the obvious players tried to incorporate some elements of social networking into their solutions?
UPDATE
Paul Allen, managing partner of business incubator Infobase Ventures in Provo, Utah, likes to help entrepreneurs with advice on business plans and raising capital. But as a frequent lecturer at business schools and conferences, he recently found himself inundated with requests. So he made a new rule: If you’re not a member of the LinkedIn network with a minimum of 10 connections and two endorsements on the site, don’t even bother calling him. “The most important thing for an entrepreneur is not necessarily what they know, but who they know,” says Allen. I don’t agree, but it’s an opinion!
UPDATE – II
Talks only about Ryze, but would help in other online business networking portals. [Once again, Ryze is “not” business networking – it is social networking.]
UPDATE – III
Whether you are a Freelancer, a small business owner or looking for a job, online networking can be a great source for contacts and can even pull in that much sought after job you have been searching for. Online Networking gives people from all over the world a chance to interact with each other and if you join enough of the right groups, that new job could be just around the corner.
