Talkbiznow Talks Smack Now
Talkbiznow.com, which claims to be the world’s first comprehensive interactive business networking website (try saying that five times fast) will launch on Monday in Europe and the United States with hopes of attaining three million users within the first six months says an article in Forbes (LinkedIn has been around since 2003 and had 24 million users as of May 2008).
One potential challenge for Talkbiznow that the article mentions is the perceived (lack of) efficacy of networking websites as a business tool. While LinkedIn’s “Introduction” tool is supposed to help professionals find “important” contacts, users apparently often get requests from strangers that have no relation to their business or line of work.
Nevertheless, the fact that LinkedIn just recently received $53 million in venture capital funds highlights the demand for websites aimed at business professionals, and Talkbiznow CEO Martin Warner has made it very clear that he believes his website is far superior to LinkedIn. He wants it to be much more like Facebook, with digital tools that the “business world is craving”. Talkbiznow offers professionals the ability to hold “Webinars” (online video conferencing), send instant messages, store files directly on the website, post a blog, create a calendar, and more. “The beautiful thing is that you have a world without many entrants, and until now it’s largely been about putting business cards online,” Warner says. “We want to go a whole step further and create a space for business professionals and companies to come together and communicate to do business faster and more effectively.”
Well, he’s right about the “world without many entrants” part, but I think this may be due to the fact that one has to very careful in merging business with social networking. In addition to the features listed above, Talkbiznow also enables users to “nudge” each other, which sounds a lot like Facebook “pokes” to me. It’s weird enough to get “poked” by friends or other people you know on Facebook- I can’t imagine how awkward it might be to be “nudged” by a stranger who you intend to interact and communicate with in a professional setting. Eeeeeeeeeek.
I’d say to some extent this is just another example of the copy-cat syndrome that I’ve written about previously. Just because Facebook has been successful so far, doesn’t mean that you can take its features and turn it into a professional networking site. In fact, I think that Facebook is too cluttered and informal and that the simplicity and practicality of LinkedIn are superior for professional networking. Apparently others agree, as WebWorkerDaily ends a review of LinkedIn by writing “As long as LinkedIn never offers anything with the word “poke” or “wall”, maybe they’re on to something after all.” Only time will tell, but I think Talkbiznow is talking a lot of smack now, and may suffer a similar fate as Cuil did by talking smack about Google before it launched a few weeks ago.
August 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I’m rather looking forward to seeing what Talkbiznow.com can do. If you were to include some punctuation in your first paragraph, I may say that you would find it a little easier to say 5 times - I might just stick to one, if that’s ok with you?
I have just read the latest posts on the Guardian and the Times Online. This Talkbiznow has something going for it. There is a lot of media interest over something that you claim to be just another start-up .com.
Having spoken to a few users of LinkedIn, they find the interface un-intuitive and cluttered. And most of all, there are no productive services to help them do business better. I think that many a LinkedIn user will migrate over to Talkbiznow solution when they see the range of services you talk about, on offer.
All the best to them!
August 20th, 2008 at 12:02 am
Samuel,
Thanks for your comment and thoughts. There is no doubt that professional social networking is currently a high growth and buzz-generating market, but it appears that Talkbiznow (http://www.talkbiznow.com/) is entering the fray a little late. You don’t have to take my word for it though, just take a look at the following:
•The Financial Times (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/babbfd52-6d79-11dd-857b-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1)
•The Guardian (http://www.paidcontent.co.uk/entry/419-talkbiznow-to-take-on-linkedin/)
I agree that better business tools may help Talkbiznow develop some loyal users, but the company may have gone too far in trying to be the business world’s Facebook. “Nudging” a stranger whom you hope to contact in a professional context is unprofessional - no matter how you slice it. The power of social networking is just beginning to aid collaboration, idea generation, and business, but there’s a fine line between that which increases productivity and that which might actually lead to ineffectiveness or seem unprofessional.
Beyond the relative merits or demerits of Talkbiznow, the company’s approach to ‘getting the word out’ leaves something to be desired. There are several supposed Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn killers hyped in the media every day, but we can just look back at Cuil (http://www.cuil.com/) and see how well things turned out for them a couple weeks ago (http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/07/28/cuil-search-engine-reinventing-the-wheel/).
While a fine-tuned PR machine is great, making sure the tool itself (ie: the service underpinning TalkBizNow) can live up to the hype is probably more important. The bark is useless unless there’s a bite to back it up. The point is that bold proclamations are easy, but actually living up to these expectations is harder.
Since Talkbiznow just launched on Monday, it still has a lot of potential, and I too look forward to seeing what the website can do. For now though, I remain skeptical. In the end, may the best professional social networking website win.
Thanks again for your comment.
Best,
Juhi
August 20th, 2008 at 4:35 am
I think that you may have your wires a little crossed, you are not able to “nudge” a user until you are actually their contact. Of course, that would be unprofessional.
I agree with what you say, may the best professional networking site win, and that the site does have a lot of potential.
I would keep my eye on LinkedIn as well at the same time. With all of these great services available on Talkbiznow, it is only a matter of time before LinkedIn realise that they are not providing what the end-user requires to do business more effecively. I am sure that we may see some major quick releases from them. My question would be: is their architecture equipped to support a new way of working?
I am looking forward to seeing the beta release updates.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:52 pm
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