Let's Get Together
Making contacts with social nets.
Published August 2007
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COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLEIt's not just who you know. It's also who they know, and what they know. Online social networks have the potential to connect you to a vast world of people and resources, and they've gone from fad to fact of business life. Generally speaking, social networking services connect your list of personal contacts to the lists and profiles of others, giving you a bigger Rolodex of potential associates. These networks are finding ever more ways to be useful for tasks like finding employees and sales prospects, tracking down expertise, spreading marketing messages, and gathering customer feedback. Here are six services worth knowing.
Best for...Finding professionals
What it is: A membership service through which 11 million people list work experience, references, and job goals. LinkedIn's search engine, which scans the profiles, is an excellent tool for recruiting and job hunting. It's aimed at individuals, though some companies use it.
What's cool: A jobs area gives companies a huge base of connected businesspeople to recruit from. An answers service, which allows the posting of business questions, has a start-up and small-business category.
Drawbacks: Network spam--people you don't know will ask to connect with you.
Price: The basic version is free. Premium versions offer features such as a greater number of introduction requests, fuller access to other people's profiles, and the ability to directly contact people who aren't connected to you. Plans range widely, from $60 to $2,000 a year (or $20 to $200 a month).
Best for...Looking good fast
Small World Labs
What it is: An online service that hosts customized social networks that use your own branding and Web address. Small World builds it; you can use it to link employees or to turn customers into a social network so they can share ideas.
What's cool: Support for reviews, ratings, and a video gallery allow companies to build libraries of things such as customer-generated product demonstrations. For business use, "friends" can be called "contacts," and "comments" are "testimonials." You control what happens to customer data, reducing privacy issues.
Drawbacks: It's pricey, though cheaper than hiring IT staff to build and maintain a network.
Price: There's a $10,000 to $75,000 setup fee. Monthly hosting fees vary based on the size of the network; it typically falls between $500 and $3,000.
Best for...Marketing to Gen-Y
MySpace
What it is: You know about MySpace. About 65 million people use it to create pages with personal pictures, blog entries, video clips, and links to the pages of their friends. Its size and the passion of its users make MySpace a good way to build buzz among consumers, especially younger ones. Bands and authors build pages looking to get linked to by MySpace members and featured on MySpace pages dedicated to music or artists.
What's cool: Even if you don't have a MySpace page, the company's partnership with Google allows placement of ads targeted to specific pages, interests, and searches. If you have a page, you control how it looks, and it's easy to post audio and video.
Drawbacks: It's easy to develop an ugly MySpace page. It takes time to maintain a good one--time you could be spending on your main website.
Price: Free
