Today, am very happy to announce a significant development that Cerado has made with Haystack networking, our social networking service for businesses and associations.
What we've created is a novel way for an organization to easily create profiles of its externally facing individuals (e.g. sales, marketing, support in the corporate realm, or members for associations or groups), and allow prospective customers or members to interact with those profiles via a Flash-based player. Through this player, these profiles can be embedded into any website or blog (just like a YouTube video can be embedded in any site).
Examples of how it looks "in the wild" are included in this post, and on this page here, and on the sidebar here. Additionally, some answers to frequently asked questions are included below.
We're really, really happy about this, and think this is an innovation that will greatly accelerate the adoption of social networking into the enterprise.
But, more importantly...what are your thoughts?
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What it is: An embeddable organizational directory that can be integrated with any website with a single click.
Why it matters: What YouTube did for sharing video, Cerado has done for business-oriented social networks. The embeddable Haystack networking directory enables anyone visiting any website, blog or other online destination to have simple access to the profiles of the individuals who are part of a business, association or organization.
Why it's different: The philosophy behind Cerado's Haystack networking is to turn the sales process around 180 degrees, and enable CUSTOMERS to choose with whom they want to deal within an organization. (This is in stark contrast to the "traditional" sales model, where a representative from a geographic location is foisted upon an unsuspecting customer.) The capabilities being announced here enable companies, associations and organizations to easily allow prospective customers or prospective members to connect with externally-facing individuals from their organizations.
Extended geek details: We believe this is first business-oriented social network that can be easily embedded into websites or blogs. We've created an embeddable, Flash-based widget that can be directly embedded into blog posts, blog templates, web pages, or any other type of site, enabling access to an entire organization's externally-facing individuals.
What it costs: Haystack networking widgets are included in every Haystack networking subscription plan, including our free plans.
How you get it: Every Cerado Haystack network has a Haystack networking directory widget that can be embedded into any web site. Simply go to the Haystack networking page for the company, association, or organization, copy the "embed" link provided, and paste it into the web page in which you want to embed the Haystack network directory.
Nice! I'm gonna have to get me some of those…
Have I mentioned lately that you're a genius, Chris?
That said, not quite everything seems functional… When I click on the full-screen option, nothing happens.
Also, it seems like there should be a link to each individual's profile and/or a direct means to contact them through the widget. I think what I'm most interested in from a networking perspective is an easy way to put all my contact info out there in a secure, but easy to use way. I don't want my email getting spammed, but I *do* want to be able to get messages from people I haven't met who have a good reason to get in touch.
A widget that allows people to see my profile and get in touch easily sounds awesome. I mean, sure, anyone can leave a comment on my blog or go to the contact page and call me on phone or skype, or they can use the email form to reach me… it's not *hard* to find me. But the widget is kind of a groovier interface for all that info. It looks *friendly* which might actually inspire some of the shy folks to get in touch.
Posted by: john t unger | November 29, 2006 at 03:57 PM
hey, john!
glad you like it! as far as the full-screen issue, the widget is trying to open up a new window to show you the full profile. if your browser has an aggressive popup blocker installed, the popup blocker may be causing that click to "do nothing," since the browser won't open up a new window.
great thoughts on the "contact" info. we rassled this for a while, and right now, if you go to the "full screen" page, the contact info is there. will noodle on how much info we want to pull down to the widget...it's that delicate balance to find the "just right" amount of information to show.
thanks again for the feedback. keep it coming!
Posted by: christopher carfi | November 29, 2006 at 04:25 PM
Hi there. This sounds great. Going to download and play with now!
Posted by: PaulSweeney | December 01, 2006 at 08:43 AM
Hey zooped.com is also a business social network, You should check them out they have some nice features you may want to implement on to your site.
Posted by: Quincy | February 20, 2007 at 04:05 PM
Check this out www.biztoo.com
BizToo is a social networking site for entrepreneurs worldwide. BizToo is an online community that lets you meet new business contacts. It's also an online business marketplace and social business networking site where you can ask and get business advice form global entrepreneurs. Also BizToo helps business reach new frontiers by increasing Social networks.
Posted by: J Perez | June 30, 2007 at 12:27 PM
Online Community sites will have a place as long as the internet has palace in society. People will always use social networking tools to find new friends keep in touch with current friends and express themselves. That is why we created a new Social Networking website sociallive.com. This Social Networking sites is for 18+ only Social Networking website.
Posted by: Online Community | December 01, 2007 at 07:07 PM