Biznik sponsors Andras Jones show, Radio8Ball
Biznik has relied entirely on word-of-mouth to attract new members since we started in 2005, and that’s taken us a long way, thanks to you telling your friends. But with the launch of Biznik 2.0 on July 1, this community is ready for much faster growth, and we want to spread the word more quickly. How to do it? Wouldn’t it be cool if there were a Biznik member who had a smart, entertaining radio show, who we could sponsor? Wouldn’t it be cool if that show was already sponsored by other organizations dedicated to sustainable business like Conscious Choice Magazine? And wouldn’t it be even cooler if that show was willing to have Biznik members come on the show so that we could not only spread the word about Biznik, but also give members who are running sustainable businesses an opportunity to spread the word about their businesses?
Well, we’re in luck. Long-time member Andras Jones has a show, Radio8Ball, that’s not only on the radio, but also features live events. So we’ve decided to jump in with both feet and make a foray into the world of advertising We’re really excited to be sponsoring this show: it’s fun, it’s hip, it’s progressive and it thinks outside of the box, just like our members do. And Andras himself is an entrepreneur, just like all of us are.
From Andras: “Radio8Ball is calisthenics for the part of our mind that recognizes synchronicity,” he says. “The Radio8Ball Show is a live musical divination event where questions are answered by picking songs at random and interpreting them as the answers, like picking musical tarot cards.”
Radio8Ball has two separate broadcasts; one on Tuesdays from 6 to 8pm on KAOS 89.3 FM in Olympia, and one on 1150 AM - KKNW in Seattle on Thursdays from 2 to 3pm. The show in Olympia is non-commercial and the Seattle broadcast has commercials (if you would like to join Biznik and advertise on Radio8Ball please contact Andras directly.)
The Radio8Ball Show live events are hosted monthly at The Capitol Hill Art Center in Seattle. These events feature live musicians who perform the musical answers to the audience members’ questions. Guests have included Jon Auer, Mirah, Jim Page and more. There are currently productions in the works for Los Angeles, Minneapolis & New York City.
The next live show is coming up on August 9, at Capitol Hill Arts Center, at 7pm. Tickets are available at brownpapertickets.com (a ticketing company started by member Steve Butcher - who you’ll be hearing more about soon too - he’s going to be hosting some events soon about how to build a successful not-just-for-profit business).
So, how do we decide from among the amazing Biznik members in this community who gets invited to appear on the show? We’ll, we’re going to have a little contest. The rules are very simple: 1. Write three paragraphs describing how your business is sustainable (yes, that means you have to be operating a sustainable business). 2. You must be a supporting member or upgrade your account before submitting your entry, and able to appear in person in Seattle. 3. Visit Andras’ profile and send him your entry. Andras will review the entries and select a winner.
OK, I’ll close this post with Andras’s “what I need” field from his Biznik profile (this is, after all, a networking community):
“Radio8Ball is always looking for music acts to appear on the show. We are also looking for an intern for the AM radio broadcast, and for businesses who are interested in advertising on the show.”
Biznik business contest oracle radio radio8ball Seattle sponsor
0 Comments How to use Biznik’s new “add to network” feature
“Hey! Come join my network!” reads the email from someone you’ve never met in your life. Should you accept? What if you’ve only met them once? And how does this whole network thing work, anyway… is it just some sort of a popularity contest?
Biznik now has an “add to network” feature that allows you to create and manage your own business network. (The previous referral network also remains, but with diminished significance - it simply shows who you’ve referred business to in the past, and who has referred business to you). Judging from the number of questions we’ve received about this new feature, there’s a lot of confusion about how it works. So I’d like to clarify things by explaining our thinking behind the feature, and a little bit of history about how social networking works.
When Biznik got started two years ago, everybody knew everybody else, because we were all part of the same small Seattle community. There was no need to filter members, because there weren’t that many members. But now, with more than 4,000 members in 70 countries, it’s a little more complicated. Biznik remains committed to being an open community, meaning everybody can “see” everybody else. But it’s increasingly obvious that we need filters through which to make sense of the growing number of members, events and conversations that are happening. So, how can we do that?
One way is by allowing members to create their own network within the larger network. That’s what we’ve done: By adding people to your network, you can use them as a filter to make sense of the larger community. This is not a new idea. Biznik’s business network feature is essentially the same thing that social networks like Friendster and MySpace call “friends.”
Adding someone to your friend network on MySpace allows the service to make recommendations like “4 of your friends also like this band.” A business network has many similarities: For example, on the Biznik event page, you can see a list of events that your friends are attending, which might make you more likely to attend one of them yourself. Essentially, Biznik is using your friends as a filter to show you something likely to be more relevant and interesting to you.
A business network, however, is slightly different that a friend network. Business is about how you make a living and people you do business with aren’t necessarily your friends. Remember the saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know?” Your business network on Biznik is a visual representation of who you know, that anyone can see. By adding someone to your business network, you are essentially saying “I know this person, and I choose to be associated with him or her in a business context.”
It’s not, however, the same as vouching for someone. Just because you’re in my network doesn’t necessarily mean I totally trust you, or think your services are amazing. It just means you’re a connection that I’ve made, and that I think you’re at least OK.
It’s important to remember that everyone has different friendship standards, and the same is true of how people choose to build their Biznik business network. By adding someone to your business network, you are essentially saying “I know this person, and I want to be associated with him or her in a business context.” We recommend the following guidelines:
1. Don’t add strangers to your network.
2. Do add people you trust to your network.
3. Don’t accept invitations from people you’ve never met.
4. Invitations to network with people you’ve only met once (or only met online) have to be examined on an individual basis. If you met someone at a happy hour and had a long conversation and it’s obvious you share some affinity, go ahead and add them - you can easily remove them later if you change your mind.
Removing someone from your network
It’s easy to remove someone from your network - just click the big red “delete” button (we’re going to rework that soon so that you can view your network without the big buttons, but for now, that’s how it works). Deleting someone does NOT send them a message, so you can drop someone quietly from your network without a fuss. Deleting someone from your network also silently removes you from their network.
As Biznik grows, your business network will become increasingly important and useful as a tool for making sense of the larger community. But at the present moment, it’s functionality is limited. Here’s one example of how Biznik may be using your business network in the days to come:
If you’re looking to hire a web developer, a search of the directory could produce a list of members recommended by people in your network. Or you could limit results to people connected to your network (friends of friends).
Flagging inappropriate use
If someone you don’t know sends you an invitation to their network that contains a blatant commercial message such as “Check out my amazing product,” you should flag them, which will notify a system administrator. Using networking invitations to spam other members is a violation of Biznik’s terms of service.
So, in summary, take your business network seriously, but remember it’s not set it stone, and you can change it at any time. It’s a great tool for keeping track of your most valuable business asset: your relationships.
New Biznik membership levels to offer enhanced profiles, enhanced promotion
We are thrilled to announce that Biznik 2.0 is up and running! It’s been a crazy nine-month effort for our small team, working full time, since January 2nd. Along the way we’ve collaborated with many of you to refine the features and framework as the new site took shape. And the result, we believe, is a community (both online and face-to-face) that sets a new standard in the business social networking space.
This comprehensive email outlines what is new about the site and what is different about the Membership Levels. Please take a few minutes to read this email and get acquainted with Biznik 2.0 to make the most of your membership. This detailed email should answer many of your questions, but feel free to email us directly at info@biznik.com if you have remaining questions.
ABOUT THE NEW SITE
- Localization. Until now, Biznik has been essentially an extended Seattle community. Now, Biznik is local to you, no matter where you live. You can select your city, and how wide of a radius you’d like to pay attention to–both people and events. The new site provides a framework for you to create and build your own network, in any location that is relevant to your business.
- World-Class Interface. We developed Action Menus for the new site, which allow you to take any of six actions (add to network, send message, introduce to a friend, give referral, send compliment or bookmark) immediately, no matter where you are on the site, without leaving the current page. To do this, we pushed AJAX technology to the limit, and the results are amazing.
- Cutting Edge Technology. The site itself is built using Ruby on Rails, an amazing framework that will allow us to continue to keep Biznik (and your business) on the cutting edge of technology.
- Visual Inbox. At a glance you can see who you’ve been messaging with. All messages sent or received via the Biznik website include the photo of the member contacting you. This makes every message feel like a conversation, and keeping track of all your Biznik messages a snap.
- Lightning-Fast Search. The member directory uses a technology called Apache Lucene to make searches nearly instantaneous while producing more relevant results than ever before. You can also refine results by proximity to your location. The search is currently only available on the Membership page, but we’ll be adding the persistent search box back to main navigation soon.
- More Biz Talk. The Biz Talk community discussion board is completely redesigned, and now has many forum categories, instead of one single forum. It is also more conversational, allowing you to see, at a glance, who is participating and who is most active in a given topic. In addition, you can now edit your published comment for up to 15 minutes (or until someone else come in after you and publishes a comment on the same conversation).
- Video FAQs. We’ve created brief (most under 2 minutes) videos that show you exactly how to do things like update your profile with a new picture, manage your account settings, create an event, record attendance after your event, and many more.
- Event hosts now keep 100 percent of the fee they set. On the new site if you want to charge a fee for your event, you can keep all of it. Biznik charges members a $5 transaction per person on each reservation. (FREE events do not incur a transaction fee.) More on this is outlined in the following blog:
http://blog.biznik.com/2007/07/03/a-radical-new-event-pricing-structure/
ABOUT THE NEW MEMBERSHIP LEVEL BENEFITS
The old Biznik had two Membership Levels: “Free” and “Supporting” ($10 a month).
The new Biznik offers three Membership Levels: “Basic” (free), “Active” ($10/mo), and “Supporting” ($24/mo) with substantial benefits for each bump to the next level. Starting at launch, Supporting Members from the old site received a three-month trial upgrade to the new Supporting membership level at no additional charge. But even new Active Members will receive far more benefits than the old Supporting membership level.
What do the gold and silver stars indicate? While the gold-colored star designates Supporting Members on both the old and the new site, the new category for Active Members will be identified by a silver-colored star.
ACTIVE MEMBER ($10) BENEFITS
What is the difference between the old Supporting Membership and the new Active Membership - both cost $10 a month?
The name and icon have changed and we have added features and perks to the Active Member level that were not included in the old Supporting Member level, but not as many features and perks as the new Supporting Membership.
What is included in the Active Level Membership? Some of the following benefits transferred from the old Supporting Membership level to the new Active Membership level. In addition, we’ve added several more.
- Visibility. All paying members sort above non-paying members in the member directory and search results.
- Messaging. Paying members may send an unlimited number of messages a day, while non-paying members may only send 3/day).
- Discounts & Special Events. Paying members are offered a discount on special events like BizJam and invitations to Active & Supporting Member-only events.
- Earn 100% of Event Fees. Paying members who host events now keep 100% of the fee they set. On the old Biznik site, event hosts kept only 2/3 of the gross event fee.
What features have been ADDED to the new Active Membership level?
- Registration Fee Waived. Active and Suppoting Members will be waived a $7 registration fee on registrations for fee-based events. Basic Members will be charged a $7 fee, encouraging them to become Active Members and become more involved with Biznik.
- Enhanced Profile Features. At the time of launch, this includes the ability to add a Personal Blog Feed to your profile. Your recent blog postings will now appear on your profile for visitors to read and to send more readers to your blog.
What features are under development for the new Active membership level?
We are working fast and furious to bring these new Enhanced Profile Features to Active Members (please note these are subject to change):
- Post Non-Biznik Events. Include a listing for any personal non-Biznik event (i.e. open houses and public seminars) directly on your Biznik profile.
- Two Businesses? Add a second business on a single profile.
- Multiple Photos. Upload as many pictures as you like of yourself or your work.
- Upload Your Logo. Add your business logo to your profile.
- Dynamic Introduction. Soon you’ll be able to add up to 3-min. video on your profile, introducing yourself, your services or answering an interview question.
- Audio & Video from events. Download audio (podcasts) & video recordings of Biznik events and BizJam workshops. This is great either for a review, if you missed the event or if you live out of the area and want to virtually attend.
- Biznik Groups. Create your own Biznik Group, based on your own criteria, such as affinity, accountability or geography, as a way to build your business and social network. Basic (free) members will be eligible to join Biznik Groups, but only Active or Supporting members can create them.
- Vouch System. Participation in the soon-to-be-released Vouching System. This reputation management tool will allow users to see at a glance which members have been “vouched for” by other members and who they are.
SUPPORTING MEMBER ($24) BENEFITS
Starting at launch, old Supporting Members received a three-month trial upgrade to the new Supporting Membership at no additional charge. This is an opportunity for our best supporters to experience the new tools and features as we release them throughout the summer.
On October 1, when the three-month trial is over, anyone who subscribed to the old Supporting membership level at $10, who does not elect to remain a Supporting Member, will automatically be returned to Active Member status and continue to be charged $10/month.
What is included in the new Supporting membership level?
The new Supporting Membership level includes all the benefits of the Active Membership level listed above, like the the Enhanced Profile Features. What differentiates the Supporting level from the Active level are Enhanced Promotional Features which showcase Supporting Members on the main pages of the site, such as the Home, Members and Events pages.
The following features are in place now:
- Highest Visibility. As a Supporting Member, you are now listed above all Active and Basic (free) members in the Member Directory and search results. This means more visibility and the potential for more people to find your profile before others.
- “Meet (This Member)” Column. Inclusion in this home page column is reserved for Supporting Members (note that Active and Basic members will appear there in communities where there are no Supporting members) and makes you unmistakably visible for all who visit Biznik. (The Featured Member column on the previous site has been upgraded and replaced with a more prominent Meet (This Member) column.)
What features are under development for the new Supporting membership level? We are developing these new features for Supporting Members only (subject to change):
- “Featured Promotions” Entry. Promotions that you add to your profile will appear more prominently when first listed on the Featured Promotions Column on the Members page.
- Press Release Publisher. Supporting Members will have access to a tool that will help you more easily create and send press releases to promote your business, events, workshops and new products and services, and syndicate them to Google and Yahoo.
- Business Tips Column. Supporting members will have an opportunity to contribute to a “Business Tips” section where you receive more exposure and opportunity to build your credibility as an expert.
- Best-of Blog. Supporting Members’ blog postings will be eligible for inclusion in the “Best of Biznik” aggregated blog on the homepage, driving more traffic to your blog site.
- Personal Event Listing on Main Events page. Active Members may add personal non-Biznik events (i.e. open houses and public seminars) to their profile. Supporting Members can elect for those personal events to appear in a special Featured Member Events calendar on the main Events page.
And many more still in the idea pipe.
We’re doing our best to make Biznik the killer app and the community of choice for building your independent business and social network. Let us know how we’re doing - send your ideas, gripes, suggestions and kudos to dan@biznik.com. And welcome to the new Biznik!
– Lara and Dan, Biznik co-founders
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1 CommentA Radical New Event Pricing Structure
With the new site comes a new event pricing model. First, a little background. Back in February 2006, when we first invited members to set a fee for the events they hosted, we were a much smaller community. We had less than 500 members, the majority of them in Seattle where Biznik began. The founders were on a familiar basis with the event hosts, and offering them 2/3 of the gross fees collected was easy to manage. As the Biznik community grew, we started to outgrow the 1/3-2/3 reimbursement model. Some hosts wish to offer complimentary tickets their friends and co-workers; others have accepted cash from late-comers at the door; and then there’s a great category of event hosts who can be considered “professional” event hosts - in that hosting seminars and throwing workshops is part of their livelihood. The feedback we began to receive from potential event hosts was that a 1/3 take was too high.
Transaction Fee
The new model offers event hosts 100% of the fee they set, and charges members a $5 transaction fee per person on each reservation. (FREE events do not incur a transaction fee.) This fee is rolled into the event fee that is displayed on the site. If an event host lists a fee as $10, the event will appear as $15, and the host will earn $10 from each reservation. Higher individual credit card transactions incur higher card processing fees, so hosts who set an event fee above $51 will be charged a 3% processing fee on the gross transactions.
Basic Member Rerservation Fee
Biznik is committed to keeping the site free of annoying banner ads, while maintaining low-cost membership levels that are completely optional. Basic membership in Biznik will always be free and we pledge to offer our free members the ability to host a profile, access all areas of the site, participate in online discussions, and attend free events all at no cost. Active ($10/month) and Supporting ($24/month) Members are rewarded with membership perks. One of these perks is free event registration. Basic (free) Members will be charged a $7 registration fee on reservations for fee-based events. (FREE events do not incur a reservation fee.) This means that a Basic Member will be charged $27 for an event listed as $20. However, a membership upgrade can be made on the spot. If you are a Basic Member you may upgrade to an Active or Supporting status during the RSVP process can add the $10 or $24 to the transaction. The $7 registration fee will be waived you will never be charged the $7 again as long as you remain either an Active or Supporting Member.
We welcome comments and feedback on our new pricing model and are looking forward to seeing more Biznik events outside Seattle.
Welcome to Biznik 2.0
The new Biznik website is up and running! John Adair, Lara Feltin and I are happy to have this huge undertaking out of our hands and into yours. It’s been a crazy six-month, full-time effort for the three of us, with part-time help from designer Nadja Haldiman, since January 2nd. Along the way we’ve worked with many of you to refine the features and framework of the new site. And the result, we believe, is a website that sets a new standard in the business social networking space. Here’s what we’re so excited about:
- Localization. Up until now, Biznik has been just a big Seattle community. Now, Biznik is local to you, no matter where you live. You can select your city, and how many mile-wide radius you’d like to pay attention to both people and events. The new site is essentially a framework for you to create and build your own business network, no matter where you are, that’s totally relevant to you.
- World-class interface. The new sites uses a nifty interface enhancement that we call Action Menus, which we developed to allow you to take any of six actions (add to network, send message, introduce to a friend, give referral, send compliment or bookmark) immediately, no matter where you are on the site, without leaving the current page. To do this, we pushed AJAX technology to the limit, and the results are amazing. And the site itself is built using Ruby on Rails, an amazing framework that will allow us to continue to keep Biznik on the cutting edge of technology.
- Visual In-Box. All messages you send or receive via the Biznik website are displayed along with the photo of the member contacting you, so that you can see at a glance who you’re communicating with. It makes every message feel like a conversation, and keeping track of all your Biznik messages a snap.
- Lightning-fast search. The member directory uses a technology called Apache Lucene to make search happen almost instantly. And it produces more relevant results than ever before. What’s more, you can refine results by proximity to your location.
- More Biz Talk. Biz Talk has been completely redesigned, and now has many individual forum categories, instead of one single forum. Overall, it feels more conversational, and you can see at a glance who is participating in a given topic, and who are the most active talkers. Also, you can now edit your comments for up to 15 minutes after posting them. Woo hoo!
- New membership structure. Biznik members now have three options: Basic (free), Active ($10/month) and Supporting ($24/month). Current supporting members will receive an automatic upgrade to Supporting membership on the new site at no additional charge. Here’s a comparison of the benefits of each level.
- Event hosts now keep 100 percent of the fee you set. That’s right - you set the fee of your event, and keep all of it. Biznik passes a $5 per person event fee to each Active or Supporting member who attends your event. Free members pay an additional $7 fee, which we impose to encourage more paying members.
- Video FAQs. Got a question about how the new site works? We’ve created brief (most under 2 minutes) videos that show you exactly how to do things like create an event, update your profile with a new image, record attendance after your event, and much much more, and all of them are available on the new FAQ section.
There’s a whole lot more in there, and in the coming days we’ll be blogging about what’s new, and responding to your feedback and questions as they arise. A couple of final notes: We had to leave one of the most-requested features - Groups - out of this initial release. But never fear - it’s going to be the first new feature we add to the site. We’ve already done a lot of work on it, and we hope to have Groups up and running by the end of July. Also, you might notice that some of the pages on the new site take longer to load than is ideal. We’re aware of that, and are working to speed things up.
Thanks for your patience and suggestions as the site was developed. Now, go have fun playing with the new toys. And please invite your friends and anyone you know who is building an independent business to play too - it’s an awesome community we’re all a part of, and we look forward to working with all of you to make it even better in the coming days.
–The Biznik team, John Adair, Lara Feltin and Dan McComb
Biznik business networking independent business Seattle social networkNew Biznik website will be launching today
Head’s up everybody - we’re going to be taking Biznik.com offline for a few hours this beautiful Sunday afternoon, to launch the new website. And you thought the iPhone launch was cool… just wait till you see this! See you on the new site in a few hours…
Biznik business networking site launch social network