WalesCymru.com

If you’re on Facebook you’ll have noticed some Twitter inspired design changes which have not gone down well the users. In fact as many as nine out of ten don’t like the changes; which suggests Facebook have either not considered their users views, or worse have not understood what benefit their users gain from the site. Yesterday I commented on Alan Davies’, “How can I help you?” and attempted to answer the question, “How should the technology provider and the business club work together”. Today I’ve responded to an email on feature changes planned at Xing - one of the two online business networks I’ve joined. It was then I noticed a theme developing, which appears to be, “What is the purpose of the online (business) network?”

Below are my thoughts on Xing changes, which are an attempt to answer this question:

Online Business Networks are …

• a business contacts management tool (Except most of my contacts are not on these networks. A web resource that provides single sign-on and access to all my business contacts would be very useful, regardless of which site they’re on)
• a business knowledge resource (If an exchange of knowledge is the main function of Groups; where’s the knowledge centre?)
• a collaboration tool (But it’s open - so where does the confidential work actually take place?)
• a business events planning / management resource (but most business events I attend are absent from these sites)
• a networking resource for local businesses (E.g. many Xing users have a strong European (German) connection, which is great if you’re a German business man/women. But what about everyone else? Should these sites develop a stronger Sector and Regional focus, perhaps by working with established local Business Clubs?)
• a networking platform (In which case, should they offer white label applications to local networking groups?)

The online network providers who get this right will become the platform of choice. At this stage this battle is far from won by any of the established players.

Recently Alan Davies - a fellow social networker and webmaster for Junction 31, Cultural Enterprise and Cymro.Org - considered the question “How can I help you?”; or more precisely, “How should the technology provider and business club work together?”

In my view the role of the technology provider is (in theory) easy - deliver the platform that supports the nature and form of the network. However, as more feature rich low cost systems become available, the real ‘value add’ is not in the technology but in ‘hand holding’, partnerships and collaborations.

If you’re a business network and are wondering how to approach digital networking, my advice is you won’t go far wrong by asking your technology provider “how they can help you”, and going with the ones that display a real understanding your business requirements.

As the technology provider, “How can I help you?” is by running the ‘digital network’ for the business club, while the club provides the members and the raison d’être.

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Business clubs exist to support their members through formal and informal networking around a social environment. Unless you understand why the members join and where they gain value, you can’t provide the digital networks they require. This is where a specialist social media supplier, like 41 Days, come in (41 Days is the technology business behind WalesCyrmu.com and back world class social media applications with vast business experience). 41 Days are happy to answer the question, “How can I help you?”