Sunday, January 27, 2008
Getting social (online)
I'm increasingly fascinated by online networking groups - like LinkedIn, Facebook (although I'm far too old for MySpace) - and will be focusing more on this subject in future.
To kick off, I've just found a new social networking site called InterNations that looks quite interesting, this time focused on expats. In my home town, Munich, there are a heck of a lot of members who are born-and-bred German, but it's good to have a mix.
Get it right, like LinkedIn appears to have done so (it's making money), and a social networking site is a money-spinner.
But how many sites do people really need? And is it really too late for a new site to launch? Right now I'm using LinkedIn for international marketing and general networking contacts, XING for German stuff and Facebook for goofing off.
Most are open to all, some are by invitation only - and the level of difficulty in getting an invitation varies. For Orkut, for example, just being Brazilian is probably enough to know someone who is a member and can invite you.
The hardest club to join right now is aSmallWorld. After spending a lot of time and effort in getting an invitation, I have hardly been enthralled - and to be honest I was equally disappointed when I met aSW's CEO Erik Wachmeister at DLD last week. He didn't seem to be that impressed that I was one of his members, and certainly didn't want to make conversation with me.
To kick off, I've just found a new social networking site called InterNations that looks quite interesting, this time focused on expats. In my home town, Munich, there are a heck of a lot of members who are born-and-bred German, but it's good to have a mix.
Get it right, like LinkedIn appears to have done so (it's making money), and a social networking site is a money-spinner.
But how many sites do people really need? And is it really too late for a new site to launch? Right now I'm using LinkedIn for international marketing and general networking contacts, XING for German stuff and Facebook for goofing off.
Most are open to all, some are by invitation only - and the level of difficulty in getting an invitation varies. For Orkut, for example, just being Brazilian is probably enough to know someone who is a member and can invite you.
The hardest club to join right now is aSmallWorld. After spending a lot of time and effort in getting an invitation, I have hardly been enthralled - and to be honest I was equally disappointed when I met aSW's CEO Erik Wachmeister at DLD last week. He didn't seem to be that impressed that I was one of his members, and certainly didn't want to make conversation with me.
Labels: social networking, web 2.0
# posted by Nesjo : 20:29
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