The Globe reports Boston is setting up a social-networking site to try to drum up business for the Hub, by connecting local business people and economic-development types with Boston "alumni" who still have an interest in helping out the Hub (hmm, perhaps the better metaphor then is the far more sober LinkedIn).
Boston World Partnerships doesn't launch until January, but click on the link anyway to get some idea of what it's about and who some of the heavy hitters on the board of directors are.
An "Ask Boston" feature will let people get questions answered by Boston World Partnership professionals. Cool, except that a) They will only send out their answers once a week (on Wednesdays to be exact) and b) they have an odd spam policy: Anybody caught trying to spam the list will get "a slap on the reputational wrist" by having their names posted in the following Wednesday's replies. Yep, that'll stop Rhonda9307 for sure, and those staffers will probably not have to spend more than 75% of their time copying and pasting scores of fake names generated by spambots. Dudes: Consider something putting something like Recaptcha on your query form instead. Really.
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
This will either go down as
By ShadyMilkMan
Thu, 10/16/2008 - 12:46pm
This will either go down as one of the worst blunders every orchestrated by the City of Boston (Wheres that free public wifi we heard so much about?) or it could turn out to be kind of revolutionary in scope and will be copied by other cities.
Personally I dont see how it can work and be a major success but Id be willing to give it a shot and see what happens.
That's great, a social
By Boston Knucklehead
Thu, 10/16/2008 - 2:55pm
That's great, a social networking website built by Boomers. I agree that this will either do very well or horribly bad.
And that's why the Globe blew it with the Facebook analogy
By adamg
Thu, 10/16/2008 - 3:11pm
And why I probably blew it in following the Globe's lede, um, lead.
It's not really a social network in the sense of "poking" friends and sending them virtual beers and keeping up with whether Abe Vigoda is still alive. It's about making business connections and trying to drum up Boston as a good place to invest and do business in. Way more LinkedIn than Facebook.
Social Advertising
By liveinvt
Thu, 10/16/2008 - 3:13pm
Sounds like one giant advertisement, which is what Myspace is trying to convert itself into... no thanks!
Seems more craigslist to
By ShadyMilkMan
Thu, 10/16/2008 - 3:49pm
Seems more craigslist meets your local chamber to me
The biggest problem with this venue is that it is centered only in Boston and that will hamper its potential base. With a Boston centric focus many people who live and do business in Greater Boston but not Boston proper wont feel compelled to get involved. Also Boston is an amazingly transient city with people coming and going all the time. Without a way to carry that with you to another city (craigslist, linked in) you lose those people when they leave, and you may not get new people as easily as one would think.
Weighing in..
By ThinkingBoston
Thu, 10/23/2008 - 3:04pm
So many great responses to the initial blog posting I’m not sure where to start. It’s important for people to understand that BWP is not, as The Globe wrote last week, creating “a Facebook-like social networking site.” We will be harnessing the power of Facebook, not competing with it. The same is true for other social media tools such as YouTube, Twitter, delicious, LinkedIn, etc. Our goal is to grow the Greater Boston economy, increasing the opportunities available for everyone. I invite you to join the conversation through our Facebook page or our LinkedIn group which can be found through our placeholder site at www.bostonworldpartnerships.com under the community section. Our full launch will happen in January. We look forward to continuing the dialogue.
I think the question isnt
By ShadyMilkMan
Thu, 10/23/2008 - 4:34pm
I think the question isnt what your goal is, its wheter or not the price tag will result in more or less results then if you went about it a different way.
It seems like you ARE creating a social networking site in addition to using the resources of Facebook/linkedin/myspace etal. Is this not true?
Hi Shady. The point I’m
By ThinkingBoston
Fri, 10/24/2008 - 3:52pm
Hi Shady. The point I’m trying to make is that we are not launching a site that offers social networking features through, for example, Ning. So we are not duplicating the interactive functionality of Facebook or whatever. Nor are we asking users to upload personal information and build new networks of friends and contacts. I’m drawing a distinction between an online social networking site (like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) and a site like ours which will interface with a range of social media tools including, but not limited to, online social networking sites like Facebook & LinkedIn etc. We see that as a meaningful distinction that is relevant to the question of how best to allocate resources and generate the greatest results for the Greater Boston economy and all the people who live and work here.