By: Kristen Nicole
Konnects is a social network entering the crowded realm of business social networking, seeking out those users that are caught in limbo between the likes of LinkedIn and Facebook. And while this space is getting more crowded by the day, I think Konnects has a good idea of what it’s targeting in terms of its solutions presented on its site, as well as its ongoing plan of action. Having privately tested its network for the past year, Konnects now boasts 350,000 users taking advantage of its online service upon its public launch, which aims to provide your “traditional” social networking tools in a manner suitable for business use. This goes for both individuals and companies alike.
Sowhat’s this gap between LinkedIn and Facebook that Konnects is trying to bridge? Konnects isn’t as restrictive as LinkedIn, and more business-oriented than Facebook. Instead of having a user profile that looks like a resume, Konnects understands that many recent grads and newcomers don’t have a decade of work experience and would benefit from having a place to discuss and showcase what their current life represents. The same goes for early-stage startups: what projects are they currently working on, and what issues are important to them? Such promotion occurs in features like blogs, photos, etc., which is more reminiscent of the features you’ll find on Facebook.
Even though Facebook lets you organize your friends into various groups now, the whole of Facebook isn’t designed solely for business networking purposes. This may not sound too different from other business networks that have emerged in the past year or so, but Konnects has a couple of other features that bring an interesting mix of Web-based tools into the business-networking realm. For instance, Konnects will not only recommend people you may want to connect with, but it’s also building a recommendation system that will deliver suggested groups, discussions and forums you may want to join, as well as user-generated content (such as blog entries) that you may be interested in viewing.
There are also user-generated groups that can be created as standalone entities, designed for use by companies and professional organizations that would like a place to network. This feature operates more like Ning than a group you can create on a site like Facebook, giving the network admin the capability of creating a walled garden if need be. Similar to Soceeo, end users can join and manage multiple groups from their centralized location.
Other upcoming features will be the inclusion of chat IM and VoIP integration, enabling users to connect with each other in multiple and direct ways. Konnects CEO and co-founder Jim Crabbe explains that all these integrated tools along with the recommendation engine are designed to factor in relevancy and time, so that users can “get to know each other when they meet in person, instead of having to deal with the nitty gritty details of building a relationship.” This means that Konnects is focused on providing as many tools for direct transactions as it can, when connecting its users with each other.
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