Connectture.com - Business Social Networking

Knowing people, getting around, meeting the actors –business people know that there is nothing better to get your business going than to actually telling about it to someone else. What this site basically does is providing the network for people to meet other people, and those other person’s contacts. When registering as a member, the site asks you to provide information on the people you want to invite to join Connectture, and only after you’ve done that you are allowed to create your profile. Connectture’s profile very much resembles a résumé, in that it highlights work/business history and accomplishments. As happens with most other social networking sites, this one also allows its users to restrict the amount of information that contacts can take a look at: websites, career history, current occupation, education, etc. When using Connectture you generate your own contact list, and can take a look at the profiles that each of your contacts have stored, so you can directly connect to those people, even when your original contact is offline.

“Finally, a networking service that connects you with influential people who can help your career, business, and personal life. Get Back In Touch with former Colleagues and Classmates. We'll help you find them and make sure you stay up-to-date about each other.”

What some users have described as a bit of a violent approach, as in requesting to provide information on other people before providing data on yourself can turn out to be a good thing, because it forces you to think of someone that for some reason should have something to say to other people, and in that way return the favor you received at being asked to join. Also, it deters sneakers from coming around just to try their luck and see if they can meet the next startup hotshot; this seems like a smart way to keep community operative, at hosting mainly serious people with serious business interests.

There is one enormous downside to Connectture, and that is the RTF design approach. What is the use of keeping a huge advertising and corporate image budget if users cannot include logos or pictures (or any other multimedia content) to their profiles? By not allowing users to generate a gallery or brief portfolio of their stuff, this social network is at serious danger of being outsmarted by other sites that allow users to showcase how promising or potentially interesting business partners the users are.