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RedWire Offers a Social Network for Entrepreneurs
RedWire is a new Canadian-based social network in beta that offers a place for entrepreneurs to connect. RedWire describes the service as, "Through our comprehensive web application, we facilitate networking between entrepreneurs and members of the global business community. We provide users with a platform for collaboration and knowledge sharing."
The idea is to have entrepreneurs share information about their business and get help from the groups listed in the diagram below. There are groups, events and networking space on RedWire. They also offer an expert advice section which is basically a blog with a variety of categories including marketing, money, sales, marketing, and technology.
The strength of a system like RedWire is to combine continuous online discussion with actual offline real events.
The site appears to be ad supported but if they can get a strong userbase, they could easily sign small business service partners and charge a sponsorship fee.
Let me start by saying that I think niche social networks are a good idea to bring people with comment interests and common goals together.
The problem however, is that so many people have built networks on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. that using a new social network, no matter how well it fits a particular niche, is like starting all over again from scratch.
From my personal experience I tried to start a social network for my wife’s large and extended family. What I found was that the people who were already using Facebook were reluctant to use the new site, even though other members of their family were on it. Since these individuals were already connected to Facebook and didn’t want to update two sites, they didn’t take the time to visit the family site.
I think the same concept can hold true for entrepreneurs who are already making connections and building networks on LinkedIn for example. Will they be reluctant to start over on a new network and balance staying current with people on both?
I like to see startups do well, so I wish the best for RedWire, but I believe that the social networking space is a tough place to be right now.
Jas,
Point well taken. I’ve run into the same barrier as well.
My social network dream would be to see our online identities be persistent and mobile in stead of bound to specific websites.
Although the rise of social network API’s has reduced the wall-garden effect, the walls remain. Which, on the one hand, helps with user retention, on the other it gets in the way of our natural drive to share what we please with whom we please when we please.
I’d like to see all social networks become essentially “head-less” (no dedicated user interface), and offer interoperable services in a seamless social web ecosystem, where our identities (as rendered by browsers) _are_ the user interface. Money could still be made in ad revenue sharing, referrals and micro-transactions on premium content and services.
@trevorrotzien