A “top list” of social networks and online communities for business and corporate. Not blogs – they must have community features of many-to-many discussions, leaders, UGC etc. Here’s my Australian list:
- Aussie Innovation – drupal site with forums and so on.
- Aussie Tycoon – vBulletin forum for entrepreneurs
- Australian Businesswomen’s Network – run mentoring programs (private community).
- Australian Business Forum – have a forum, tumbleweed territory – John Rashleigh, Chairman
- Australian Investment Network – Connecting Entrepreneurs with Angel Investors investors can list
- Australian Women Online – supporting women in business
- Flying Solo – tagline: Loving your own company. Australia’s community for solo & micro business
- Leadership Academy (Deloitte) – Australian – Listen Explore Execute Succeed
- OpenOffices - Connect+Combine+Extend Share offices. Have a forum.
- OzSmallBiz.net – by Stephen Spry Small Business Support Network (perhaps more of a blog than an online community?)
- The Ruby Connection (Westpac) – Australian Business women (my prev blog post) Where women in Business Click
- The SB Hub by ANZ Bank – running your business PHP forums. I signed up but it wouldn’t let me in.
- Virtually Yours – virtual assistants, has a social networking section for members
- Women’s Network Australia – have a forum called eNoticeboard
- Young Entrepreneurs – FRANK TEAM (WordPress with non-functioning forum)
- Zaabiz - Empowering business networks – Busines social network for Australia/Asia.
I’ll add more tomorrow, if I get a chance when I come home from ad:tech (it’s gone midnight here). Or better still -YOU give me some business social networks in Australia. Preferably b2b but whatever.
GetSmartBlog put the list together – I thought I would add some stuff to it:
- Alibaba – get international trade leads (Tagline: Global Trade Starts Here)
- BizJournals – online community for women business executives and entrepreneurs to connect, support, learn and grow. (Actually called Bizwomen).
- Biznik – business networking for professionals (tagline: Business networking that doesn’t suck)
- BizSugar – a social news site for small businesses and mid-sized companies. Business owners, managers and entrepreneurs can now discover, share and vote for the best business tips, trends, news and strategies on the Web. (a Pligg (think DIGG) site i.e. citizen editor voting up news)
- Cambrian House – crowdsourcing, business networking, get help with your business ideas (I’ve been a member of this one a while – innovative monetizing. Tagline: Crowds thought it, we’re helping to build it)
- Club E Network – a place to watch inspiring & how-to TV programming, meet people online & in-person and find & make money (Tagline: The most passionate tribe of entrepreneurs on the planet- Club E is the built in network of peers wherever you go – joomla site).
- Cofoundr – find a co-founder for your entrepreneurial venture (Tagline: a community for entrepreneurs)
- Ecademy – enables business people to connect through online networking, at business networking events and 1-2-1 meetings – a community that advocates, connects and helps one another (Tagline: Connecting business people)
- FastPitch Networking – business networking, PR help for business
- GOBIGnetwork – community of startup companies (Tagline: Find Angel Investors – the world’s biggest community of startup companies)
- Hoover’s Connect – manage professional network and connect to corporate network (Tagline: Find the people you want to meet through the people you know)
- Ideablob.com – where entrepreneurs and small business owners can share and grow their business ideas – and have a chance to win $10,000 towards fulfilling them. (Tagline: Where business ideas have the best chance to succeed. OR. inspired by Advanta. Submit ideas and vote)
- Idea Cafe – business forums (Tagline: CyberSchmooze. Bright colourful site, small business dcboard?)
- Intuit Accountants – Intuit’s resource for accounting and Quickbooks practitioners (for accountants)
- JIGSAW – share business contacts, database of over 11 million business contacts (Tagline: Complete Collaborative Business Information)
- JumpUp – from Intuit, focuses on startups, share your story to win a $25,000 business grant (same interface at Intuit. Uses CurvyCorners)
- konnects – communities around specific industries (Tagline: We power online communities. Have Twitter ID. Its a platform like Ning)
- LinkedIn – online network with over 35 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world
- LookUPPage – an online tool that helps you create a personal web page, highly visible on search engines, and trackable so you can learn who is visiting your page. (Tagline: Brand Yourself Online)
- Meetup – Look up business,entrepreneur, and social networks based on location (Tagline: Do something • Learn something Share something • Change something. Like Upcoming.org, Eventfull)
- Naymz - is an innovative Reputation Network that lets you establish and promote your good name online.” (Tagline: next level networking. I personally find this site spammy)
- Online Community Small Business Community Forum -this interactive and open portal is intended to serve as a resource to support and assist small businesses. (PHPNuke)
- OPEN Forum by American Express – swap ideas, find expertise, and access resources, to help grow your business. (Tagline: A wealth of resources for the savvy business owner)
- OpenBusiness – platform to share and develop innovate Open Business ideas – entrepreneurial ideas which are built around openness, free services and free access (Tagline: Let’s share business models)
- Oriented – global network of international professionals interested in Asian businesses and cultures (Tagline: is a global network of international professionals interested in Asian business and partnerships, with more than 30,000 members worldwide.)
- PartnerUp - is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs find joint venture partners, co-founders, executives, and board members. You can either post your opportunity or search the listings placed by other entrepreneurs. ( sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark)
- Pink Magazine Community – Women focused business community (A communityserver.com site. needs a tagline – thought it was for Gay $$$. Very pink and blue like mother/baby communities)
- QuickBooks Community – from Intuit
- Quicken Community – from Intuit
- Ryze – Members get a free networking-oriented home page and they can also join special Networks related to their industry, interests or location. (Webby Award Nominee but looks dated now)
- SBDC Community – community for Association of Small Business Development Centers members (looks like Joomla. And Intuit again).
- SmallBusiness.com – is a wiki with guides, resources, how-tos, and a small community (mediawiki I think)
- Small Business Ideas Forum – community of over 33,000 small business folks with over 71,000 posts. (vbulletin board)
- Spoke – allows you to find and connect with 40 million businesspeople at 2.3 million companies. Spoke reaches beyond traditional professional networks by allowing you to connect with anyone in the Network, regardless of whether they are a member. (Tagline: Where BusinessPeople Connect – another directory service)
- StartupNation – A community site for entrepreneurs that includes startup proposals networking (by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, elevator pitch competition, .asp. net)
TheFunded – an online community to research, rate, and review funding sources worldwide. (one of my fave sites – name/shame venture capitalists)- Upspring – provides businesses with an opportunity to increase exposure and attract more customers. (part of Worldspring, looks dead)
- Wall Street Journal Community – a place to exchange opinions, ideas and tips (pay $$$ to see anything)
- Work.com – how-to guides for your business (brilliant helpful site e.g. sample business plans)
- XING – global networking for business, 7 million members (always seemed a bit spammy to me)
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