Fast Company Joins the Social Networking Bandwagon

Social networking is growing at a rapid pace and companies are desperately trying to find ways to leverage it in terms of building relationships with customers and boosting sales. Now, Fast Company has joined the social networking bandwagon by introducing user-generated blogs on the FastCompany.com website.

Visitors to the Fast Company website can register to publish blog posts, participate in online forums and answer questions posed by Fast Company’s editors. Edward Sussman, president of Mansueto Digital (the parent company of Fast Company magazine and website) said,”Mansueto Digital becomes the first major website to blend journalism with an online community to create something better than either by itself. There are a lot of powerful reasons why amateurs should be enabled to fully participate in the mainstream media.”

The Fast Company website calls its new user-generated section its Business Network and uses the tagline, “Join the business conversation. People. Ideas. Community.” The new Business Network at FastCompany.com was announced on February 11, 2008, and within the first four days nearly 400 people had signed up with blogs to add to the mix. Companies have learned that web-based marketing must be less static and more interactive fostering a 2-way conversation to be effective in the world of Web 2.0. By creating its own social network, Fast Company hopes to drive more users to its website and keep them there longer by letting them control the content.

Predictions from a report by eMarketer in December 2007 showed that social networking will branch out beyond “traditional” social networking websites this year, and Fast Company’s attempt at embracing user-generated content is a perfect example of that prediction coming to fruition. Keep this in mind as you choose the social networking activities that you devote your time to. Select the activities that will help you reach your goals then commit to them. Keep your eyes and ears open. You never know what new social networking opportunity will pop up that could be perfect to help you meet your objectives.

Whether you use social networking for business or just for fun, get ready for a wild ride as the social networking landscape grows and changes over the course of the next few years. Do you participate in any small, niche social networking sites like the one Fast Company has launched?

Susan Gunelius, is the author of b5media’s branding blog at www.Brandcurve.com. She has over a decade of experience in corporate marketing, advertising and branding working for some of the largest companies in the world including divisions of AT&T and HSBC.  Currently, she works as a freelance writer and author with her first two business nonfiction books scheduled for publication in 2008.  You can learn more about Susan Gunelius on her website, www.SusanGunelius.com.