A Wider Net

Social networking is commonly misunderstood as a business version of a dating service. Too often, people assume that social networking is limited to helping attendees find other attendees to talk to. To be clear, there is huge value in connecting attendees with other attendees who can help each other solve problems and grow professionally. But if you think that’s all there is to it, or if you’ve never considered Social Networking, then you must read on.

Social Networking is already huge, and the exploding growth of social media websites like You Tube and MySpace indicates that the trend will only increase as the younger generations move higher in business. More and more, people seek to find information provided by trusted peers, or information recommended by trusted peers. We will find that social networking components will be demanded in the enterprise, in marketing, and at events.

At an event, social networking has an obvious role. It can connect attendees, build an enthusiastic community of users, connect future business partners, and unite employees from distant divisions. Buyers can find ideal sellers or products, and sellers can do more to find the perfect buyers. Recently I used a social networking system at Infocomm and I was surprised to discover how easily it helped me connect with potential new partners, clients, and vendors.

Another common misconception is that an event social network is only temporary. For association events in particular, these sites live on indefinitely, building membership and helping to share ideas and solutions among members. These community sites are gaining in popularity for almost any annual live event.
In the enterprise, social networks allow employees to find mentors, or sales people to find current training materials and product information.

In healthcare communities, patients dealing with the same condition can find each other for support.
One of the companies that really gets it is introNetworks. They have developed a platform for social networking that, in their words, connects anything to anything. Sure - it can help attendees find each other, but that’s just the beginning. An introNetwork can help connect buyers to sellers, partners to partners, employees to mentors, and people to media (papers, podcasts, etc).

Customers determine how the introNetwork will be used, and what information is to be asked of users in order to productively match them and start conversations. This is one area where introNetworks shines - the profiling process is slick and refined to make the process easier and the results effective. Once the users complete the profile, they are presented with a unique “Pin Map” that looks like an array of push pins on a map. The center pin represents “you”, the user, and the closer the pin is to you, the more likely that the person or content represented by that pin is a good match for you.

They recently added a bunch of new features including calendars, forums, and revised search and connection finding. Many existing features have been enhanced or revised. The application is built entirely in flash, making it compatible with nearly any browser on Mac’s or PC’s.

I could go on for days on this system, but after trying it I have to admit- you need to try it yourself.