Will the Web Replace the Business Lunch?

Aug. 29, 2005 — -- Teenagers, music fans and singles have flocked to various Web sites to find mates, exchange photos and share songs, but few sites have built online communities that center on members' professional goals. Grace Chang found one that did.

Chang, 31, decided in February that after three years working for the same company and 14 years living in Chicago, it was time for a change. She updated her resume, posted it online and called a few recruiters, but none of those led her to a new job.

Instead, she dived into an online professional networking site called LinkedIn.com, one of a number of Web sites devoted specifically to making business contacts. The operators of LinkedIn and similar sites like Ryze.com and ZeroDegrees.com tout them as places where people can easily tap into business resources they've cultivated throughout their careers.

After signing up for membership, users can run searches on companies they've worked for in the past to find and contact former co-workers, or they might search companies that they've done business with and find old business associates. The goal is to make the longstanding practice of glad-handing at conferences, collecting business cards and remembering faces as easy as signing in and sending an e-mail. Site creators hope users will log on to network and make business connections in addition to finding jobs.

Using LinkedIn, Chang quickly found a job as a senior finance manager with Intuit, a financial services company with an office in Mountain View, Calif. She relocated to the San Francisco Bay area and started her new job in May.

"A previous colleague of mine had suggested that I join LinkedIn, so I already had a profile. I eventually found my new job on a listing in their job search tool," Chang said.

Social networking sites like Friendster and MySpace have enjoyed heavy traffic and considerable press coverage. But the social networking business model, while attractive for users, has not yet proven a consistent money maker. Friendster, once a Silicon Valley darling, has experienced tough times of late as competing sites siphoned users and the company struggled to define its niche.

Some analysts believe sites catering to business professionals could become more lucrative, as users could see the business angle as a possible financial incentive for logging in. But others suggest that limiting the potential user-base to only business contacts could limit advertising opportunities.

"If it's a very good audience, people will pay to get access to them," said John Tinker, research analyst at ThinkEquity Partners. "The question I'd have is how often do people go on and use it. If it's just once to set up their account, then they're not that attractive."