Create Free, Interactive Business Networks with Shazzle

Corporate success is largely dependent on connections and relationships. Circles of “business contacts” are rapidly and continually mutating. The newest of these configurations are larger and more disparate in composition. Modern-day employment is transitory: gone are the days when fifty steady years and a nice pension could be filed under “expected.” These realities make digital business networking a necessity. The telephone and even email are no longer adequate tools in network construction. Even if you're lucky enough to stay in one place (or even one field) for a while, chances are a slew of your former colleagues, family, and friends have been subject to this new ever-mutable employment landscape. You worked with a woman and she got hired by a competitor, then changed fields, then moved, then...well you don't exactly know what happened after that. Your wife's cousin worked with a guy you met and liked. He said “if you ever need anything...” and gave you his card, but he left that job and the number and the card are now obsolete. This is where business networking comes in. While business networking isn't new, Shazzle is. Shazzle gives you a list of contacts, lets you search, sort and find better than any other program (free or otherwise).

But other things do that. So why Shazzle?

Easy: Shazzle's more versatile. It does more things. Shazzle personal profiles come complete with their own personal communities. These feature live chat, instant messaging, and the infrastructure to allow you to share files at no cost to you. So when you find that valuable, remote connection, you can do more than just send a stagnant message to an email. You can make a live, instant connection. Carry on a conversation. Check the list of “members” within the personal community to see if there's anyone else you should be reconnecting with. You can immediately make the connection you were initially after, while simultaneously expanding your personal network and unearthing new, potentially useful, previously unseen ties.

Think about the file sharing implications, too. You have an old contact you want to get in touch with. You find her Shazzle personal profile. You immediately shoot her an IM. She's interested and excited. She wants to know more. You have some data, maybe a pertinent power point. She'd love to see it.

You can upload it into her community and she'll have access to it instantaneously, then the two of you can discuss it, on the spot.

We think this is a pretty powerful example of the overwhelming business networking utility of Shazzle. If you do too, go download the thing.