This article talks about MeettheBoss.com, a social networking site, similar to Facebook and MySpace, but specifically designed for top financial executives, CEOs and other C-level positions. The reason I chose this article is because there will be a workshop and feature presentation of MeettheBoss.com at the FST (Financial Technology Services) Summit, which will be held between November 5 and 7, 2008, and is one of the places where the hottest topics in technology and next generation financial services will be discussed at the executive level.
One of the more interesting points in the article is the issue of registering in the website – it is almost completely exclusive, with 20,000 of its initial members invited, and any new applicants put through a rigorous screening process of checking titles, positions, place of employment and managed budget. According to the article, this screening process has already lead to the rejection of two-thirds of applicants so far, while the intended maximum usage of the website is topped out at 50,000.
A second interesting facet of this executive networking site is that it offers numerous technologically-enabled services to its members, such as online and conference call meetings, shared document storage similar to Google Docs, extensive mobile services and even the ability to utilize the website for internal company networking. All of these services are intended to spike interest in the website and maximize utility for busy professionals who don’t have the time of an average college student to sit in Facebook.
Finally, the website still has only one advertiser as of today (which is the software company CA) and has yet to unleash its full potential for profits from both advertising and links to the parent company (GDS) which publishes business-to-business magazines aimed at top-level executives. The implications of this rather strange initial strategy for making profits are discussed below.
The website has garnered huge attention during this financial crisis from executives who seek a less public vent for their worries and at the same time an informed conversation with colleagues across the industry. Considering that MeettheBoss.com has just become popular enough to be prominently featured in a mainstream newspaper article (the International Herald Tribune), some thought-provoking questions can be raised about the way the financial world is run behind closed URLs.
For one thing, it is safe to assume that executives of competing financial institutions will not openly share with each other their companies’ strategies for developing next generation services. However, it is not difficult to imagine that there will be some influences to their decision-making process stemming from interactions within the website – be they meetings and discussions in which several executives participate, new advertisements from firms trying to push for a revolutionary software or service, or even a casual chat between online buddies like Robert Steel (CEO of Wachovia) and Lloyd Blankfein (CEO of Goldman Sachs) – both of whom are supposedly registered, although the website keeps member identities strictly confidential to outsiders. Ultimately, we could see this website as a birthplace for unpolished ideas that can later result into cutting-edge services.
Aside from member and advertiser-based influences, we can also look into the parent company’s intention to link much of MeettheBoss.com to its executive magazines, possibly creating a situation in which a CEO might become as likely to habitually browse through carefully placed pre-paid articles, just as a typical Facebook user is likely to add an outside-sponsored application that will tell him/her how many other users think he/she is hot. In this case, instead of a birthplace for ideas, the website will function as a sieve for other companies’ ideas that get translated into the financial world.
Last but not least, a social networking site, not excluding one at the level of MeettheBoss.com, offers the potential of forging alliances. Given the lack of trust between financial institutions in the current situation, “personal” contact and interactions might be just the remedy for restoring cooperativeness between financial firms. At the same time, this could also result in partnerships that aim to develop new products and services jointly.
In the end, there seems to be huge potential for MeettheBoss.com to impact the next generation of financial services, just as MySpace and Facebook have impacted online interactions. This is quite possible, even in spite of MeettheBoss.com’s limited membership compared to these other social networking sites.
And let me be the first one to congratulate the Obama supporters in the class.
Main Article: Stressed-out bankers get a forum to share the pain; Social Web site benefits from executives' jitters
Author: Eric Sylvers - The New York Times Media Group
Source: The International Herald Tribune
Date: November 3, 2008 Monday
Database Accessed: Lexis-Nexis Academic
Other Sources: http://www.fstsummit.com/program.asp
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2 comments:
This form of executive networking does create problems and solutions. While I think there might be a possability for corporate espionage or even sum accidental leaking of confidental information.
There are possabilites that it will allow for more communication between rivals that could help solve a companies problem or even help with firms mergeing by having two companies executives network between on another.
What will become of this site and the networking environment only time will tell.
My problems with meettheboss.com is more of an exclusivity issue rather than a security issue. I feel that a social network that does not allow for non-ceo's to chime in limits the scope of the problems that can actually be discussed. Instead, it seems to be equivalent to a country club rather than a place where business leaders can work together. In terms of the business model itself, I think it has a good possibility of succeeding because wealthy people like associating with other wealthy people.
As for an advancement in IT, I do not think it provides much outside of a facebook for a niche of professionals. It is a good marketing idea, but not much of an IT advancement.
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