Monday, April 20, 2009

Linking Globally

iStock/Thinkstock
Check out a new global business network for small businesses called GlobalLinker and then let "us" know how the following companies are affiliated:

British Airways
USA Today
hotels.com
Cisco WebEx
Adobe
priceline.com
skype
Quicken

Impressive roster. What's in it for them? More important, what's in it for us (how is it different from LinkedIn, Facebook (check this out), MySpace, Twitter, etc.)?

And don't confuse it with Global Link DEC or GlobalLink Network!

5 comments:

Tuxster said...

Honestly, it seems quite shady to me. There are a number of things to look for to see how legit a website is:

a) is there an about us page with some information about who the organization is, who it is run by, what it's mission is, where is it located? (ANSWER: No)

b) Are there any names associated with the site at all? (ANSWER: No. Blog posts are by "admin", contact us page is a form, there are no names mentioned anywhere).

c) Are there reputably sponsors or partners of the project? (ANSWER: Not quite. Yes, I see the logos as well, but note that it only says 'affiliated with', doesn't say sponsored by or in partnership with. You could simply have a referral account with these organizations and you would be 'affiliated with' them).

Other signs: Even the "Advertise with us" page goes to a contact form. If you are trying to attract advertisers, wouldn't you want to put in some information about who you are, what the benefits of advertising would be, who to contact with questions, rates, etc.?

Finally, a whois on the domain name reveals that the site is owned by Business Crossing, which seems to be a website design type company (although their website makes it sound more complicated, a look at their portfolio makes it a pretty standard web design outfit). The address is a town in New Jersey. The style in the site looks pretty similar, so I think they are the ones running Globallinker.

I'm going to argue, this is a project off someone's basement, to see if it will stick.

Laurel Delaney said...

You did your homework. Thank you so much.

Anyone else care to weigh in?

Regards,
Laurel

N.J.Christopher said...

This blog looks different. What's the use of GlobalLinker for small busineses? If it's shady site then there's no business that one can do.-Jonathan
Http://www.p2w2.com

Robert Rogers said...

I agree with the concerns above. Also, it looks like another permutation of the same idea of social media. It looks like a very similar product to LinkedIn. The strength of any of these types of sites is the number of users. There just does not appear to be anyone using the site, so the network stays small. Right now, because it is a networking tool, it does not appear to be an improvement on the competitors. Thanks for the research.

Laurel Delaney said...

I've always felt that our readers are our best critics (keeping us on our toes). You all just proved it.

Thank you so much (N.J. Christopher and Robert Rogers) for taking time to give us your opinion on the GlobalLinker site.

Let's put them on the back online burner and see what happens a year from now.

Regards,
Laurel