Instant video profiles add new dimension to online business networking
Biznik is launching an extraordinary new online business networking feature today: video profiles. We teamed up with another Seattle startup, EyeJot.com, to provide you a way to instantly record and post up to 5 minutes of video, all from within your profile on Biznik. No need for editing software. No need to shoot first and upload later. No need to cut and paste the link from Youtube. All you need is a computer with a video camera and we take care of the rest. Well, you still have to have something to say. You’re on your own there!
To get started immediately, watch this two-minute video in which I show you how it works:
As far as I know, Biznik is the first online business networking community to include recordable video from within profiles. LinkedIn didn’t even give users the ability to upload photos to their profiles until last September, so don’t hold your breath on seeing video there any time soon. If you know of any other business social network that offers this, let me know and I will stop making bold claims! Until then, I’m going to keep bragging, because this is worth bragging about. In fact, why don’t you hop on to your profile, record a profile, and we can all brag together.
All of the current Mac laptops already have video cameras built-in. If you don’t have one of those, you can get an inexpensive USB camera, and mount it externally. The video tool is pretty good at automatically figuring out your settings, and within minutes you should be recording your first video. If you have any problems, we’ve created an extensive video FAQ page that should have you up and running right away.
So, what do you think of video on your profiles? Will you use it? Will you watch video on member profiles?
business networking social media video
1 Comment Snow day!
Biznik’s lead developer John Adair, left, and Dan McComb send you greetings from snowy Seattle!
3 CommentsArticles now automatically appear on your profile
Since we launched the Articles section in early January, we have accepted for publication only articles that are sharply focused on business. That’s because we want Biznik to become a resource for independent business people, a place where you can be confident you’ll find articles that will help your business grow faster and become more profitable.
We’ve noticed, however, that we’ve had to decline a lot of interesting articles that are perfectly relevant to YOUR business, not ours. So we thought: Why not automatically publish every article than members submit to their own profile? Then, we’ll promote the ones that fit with Biznik’s editorial guidelines to the home page, the Learn section, and elsewhere on the site. So that’s what we’ve done.
Now, when you submit an article, it immediately appears on your profile. So you can write articles on topics that YOU choose, not us. If you’re a painter, for example, like Eric Beemer, you can write an article about 10 questions you should as your local painter before hiring him or her.
Save the Date for BizJam 08!
Biznik is proud to announce the date for Seattle’s 2008 BizJam event on Thursday, July 10, 2008.
BizJam 08 is Biznik’s second annual “indie” business conference. The event includes a day of educational workshops and organized networking opportunities, followed a fun social networking soiree in the evening.
Target audience: Entrepreneurs, freelancers, consultants & small business owners.
Expected attendance: 350+
Speakers at BizJam 07 included:
- Scott Bourne, president of Podango Productions and founder of Netradio
- Ron Sukenick, founder of Relationships Strategies Institute and co-founder of the Indiana Business Network, currently known as BNI
- Scott Berkun, author of The Myths of Innovation (O’Reilly 2007)
- DL Byron, author of Publish & Prosper: Blogging for Your Business (New Riders 2006)
- Michelle Goodman, author of The Anti-9-to-5 Guide (Seal Press 2007)
Statistics: 4000 members of Biznik in Seattle, 8000 world-wide; an average of 40 new members joining per day. Current web traffic: 340,000 pageviews per month; 60,000 visits per month, 33,000 unique visitors per month.
Reach small business people and indie professionals by SPONSORING BizJam 08.
Networking events, online advertising, hands-on demonstrations and onsite marketing promotions are available, along with a limited number of exclusive corporate sponsorship opportunities.
Detailed list of benefits will be available soon. Please contact Lara Feltin - lara (at) biznik.com - for more information.
Events and BizTalk posts now taggable on Biznik business network
You’ve probably noticed that, ever since we launched Articles and Tips in early January, you have been able to add tags to all the articles and tips. Tags are descriptive keywords, which help describe the content. Every time you add a tag to an article, it helps us show you related information. How? Look in the column to the right of any tip or article. You’ll see a headline “Related Articles” and “Related Tips.” Those are there because someone tagged it.
Tagging has worked extremely well to help us present relevant, related articles and tips to you, when you are reading an article or tip. So well, in fact, that we’ve decided to adding tagging to Events AND BizTalk posts. So please, start tagging your events when you create them, and events that you are attending (any member can tag things).
Why are we doing this? Because we want to start showing you more relevant related info all over the Biznik site. And we need your help. So next time you’re looking at an event, BizTalk post or Article, tag it!
Biznik relevant social media taggingBiznik business networking community adds 8.000th member
Biznik passed another membership milestone early last week, when Christa Ward from Houston, Texas, became the 8,000th member of this business networking community. And Biznik’s membership growth rate is continuing to accelerate. The monthly average is now just over 30 new members per day.
Christa has not responded to my requests for an interview or completed her profile, so unfortunately I can’t tell you much more about her other than the fact that her business name is “Web Designs by Miss Chrissy.” Don’t forget to complete your profile - people really do look at them, and so do search engines.
Since Christa joined Biznik 6 days ago, 200 more people have joined Biznik. But the fact that she hasn’t replied to my interview request may point to a less positive side of growth: bigger community = less trust? Or maybe she was just too busy doing what we all should be doing right now: running our business! OK, back to work. I’m saving the big celebration for member 10,000 (which, at our current growth rate, should happen some time in early May).
business networking community social media web communityBiznik changes home page to increase prominence of business networking articles
Articles have been a huge hit since we launched them two months ago on Jan. 2. Since then, members have published an average of four new articles per day with helpful how-to advice on a wide variety of business topics. Our traffic has climbed as a result, and we’ve been thrilled to notice how much business networking is happening between members who meet each other by posting comments to the articles.
Today, we’re acknowledging the increasing importance of articles and the members who write them by giving both significantly more prominence on Biznik.com: the home page now prominently showcases the featured article at the top, followed by the four most recently published member-contributed business articles. Article authors get prominent photos and links to their profiles with every article they publish, on the home page.
We’ve also added a new sidebar on the home page: Business networking advice. This new section pulls in the headlines of the most recently contributed articles about business networking.
We’re delighted to see that articles have become a way for members to raise their profile, build their reputation, and share their expertise. Since we launched, 5 Biznik members have earned “Expert” status from having four or their articles rated 8 or above. Meet Biznik’s Expert members:
Barry Hurd
Mark Silver
Kaya Singer
Ilise Benun
Stephanie Ward
Intriguingly, just one of the expert members is from Seattle. So articles have turned out so far to be a fantastic way to broaden the reach of Biznik beyond Seattle, where Biznik now has more than 4,000 members.
So, what business topic are YOU an expert on? The whole community is waiting for you to share your expertise, and with the change we made today, you’ll have a bigger audience than ever on Biznik.com.
articles business business networking online business networking social networking