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Source:Mashable!

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.

So what’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 feature 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.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Kompoz Introduces Drag and Drop Uploading

Source:Mashable!

Center’d is a new site that combines a bit of local search and review features with event- and organized event-planning features for an inclusive tool that, in the end, helps you connect with others in the offline world. Whether you’re offering your two cents on your favorite neighborhood bar or seeking out a venue for an upcoming fund raiser, Center’d hopes to be your one-stop shop.

You can begin by leaving a review on a specific location, or searching for a local event. If you’d like to post an event, you can do that as well, listing the time and location. Of course, the beauty of having this feature included in a local review site is that you can see what others have said about a particular location prior to organizing your own event. From there, you can upload your own image, enter the URL for an image online, or choose from one of the stock images that Center’d already has. This would also be a great place for a web image search that pulls from public images on sites like Flickr, adding to the customization of this event-posting option.

From there, you provide the rest of the data like the time and place. I found this portion of the process somewhat frustrating, as Center’d seemingly requires you to choose from one of its pre-populated venues based on the information your provide, which could be an intersection, a landmark, or even an exact address. Seeing as I provided Center’d with an exact address, I was frustrated with the Center’d suggestions for venues, seeing as none of them were the venue I was trying to insert.

Aside from this, Center’d does a pretty good job of what it’s set out to do. If you’re organizing something like a fund raiser, then you can indicate whether or not you need volunteers. Public events can be added to your Outlook or iCal, but given Center’d focus on user-generated information and community, I’d love to see similar integration with Facebook Events and other third-party services that can help with the promotion of a particular event, especially those that can tap into an existing friend base which is likely housed elsewhere on the web.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 7:31 am and is filed under News, search, local search, Web apps, centrd, event planning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.