A few days ago I spoke badly about Viadeo.I did it as I did a while ago about XING after the big deception.

Neurona was a free network, as Facebookis. Migrating to XING deceived most of Neurona’s users because all groups that were made, without giving users a chance to a direct connection between them didn’t ment a thing, and there is was no way to share graphics or videos. Facebook allows all that, not in the way I’d like, yet it does so.

On XING (and now on Viadeo), instead, only paying users can message their contacts.

I got my title from that fact. The aim of Social networks actually is to favour contacts between users. I dont understand a kind of marketing that allows all to open groups, but not to talk to others So i thought about…

A Model for
Professional Networks

If I had to create one in competition with free networks, first of all I would chose one or more niche markets or sectorial networks, ie. between advertisers and clients, producers and distributors, and so forth.

Then I’d choose a very flexible CMS for profiles and messagers, but mostly for groups. For instance one like those used in MULTIPLY or in NETLOG, but differently organized. Users must be allowed to arrange their pages the way they prefer, and to be able to add formatted text, link, meta tags, graphics and video at will in the easiest possible way.

You need a modular, form vitting, developable structure…

And let’s not forget APIs for third part applications. A great part of Facebook’s success comes fron them. To publicly release part of one’s own source code shoes an open mind, and a symptom of a clever marketing. The ones who are open become widely known.

About the offer. I dislike access by invite, it doesn’t guarantees a thing. An access using a simple registration is much better, but you need very clear guidelines about what’s to be done and what not.

Users should compile a complete profile with a photograph (not an avatar) and links to sites, blogs and other profiles should be mandatory and should be verified by the network itself. And it must be visible to all. we are talking about business contacts, darn! I hate Facebook’s privacy that doesn’t allow me to see the profiles of those users asking to join my groups. I WANT CONTROL!

Users must also be amble to send messages (no netmail) to all, and also tio ask anyone for contacts. It’s the other user’s choice to accept or not.

What should be pay only is the right to poen groups and to create events. That’s what gives to social networks their added value.

Naymz advertise themselves by inserting links to most complete profiles on Google. I owe them a part of my good positioning.

The same could be done for groups. Imagine to find on SERPS an entry like one of those:

Copywriter
All about professional copywriting.
Watch the video about agency work on XXX.

or:

Copywriter
March 9th the exhibition on professional writing opens in Milan.
See the presentation on XXX.

The first entry could be for a group, the second for an event.

I believe that all interested people would come ad see public links. Having a guarantee of a public display of one’s creations would be a very good incentive to spend for agencies and companies, don’t you believe so?

This is the kind of pay for network I wouldn’t mind to join. One that can give me contacts in target.

And now I’ll repeat : I’m a copywriter and a strategic planner. My services are aimed at communications agencies and companies. The kind of contacts I’m looking for are creative directors and marketing managers.

Give me those, and I’ll spend my money with you.