Keeping in Contact - A VIP Editorial
Jinfo Blog

By Stewart Bain

Item

Living in what is considered to be one of the more remote areas of the UK I can fully appreciate the benefits that the internet has brought in terms of information sharing and connecting people throughout the world at the click of a button. In the not-so-distant past, residing in certain geographical areas would have meant exclusion from various employment or business opportunities; now it is possible to live and work almost anywhere.

This issue of VIP includes reviews of some of the online tools that help people in all locations to make contacts, share details and find employment. You will discover the positives and negatives of the business networking site LinkedIn, the online business directory Jigsaw, and the business search engine ZoomInfo. These companies all emerged in the last decade, and have grown and expanded at an incredible rate, with LinkedIn now having over 65 million members.

I must admit my previous knowledge of these services only went as far as having heard their names; after reading the reviews I was inspired to take a closer look at what they have to offer; I now have a much greater understanding of their value as mechanisms for networking and information sharing.

Also explored in this issue is BiomedExperts.com, which our review describes as the product you need if you wish to ‘find out about trends, people, investment, products and collaboration in biomedical sciences’. The site allows users to search for experts in the biomedical field, our reviewer gives a detailed description of just how easy, or not, the service is to use. Working in a public library I couldn’t help but raise a smile in recognition at the problems thrown up when searching by author name.

It was interesting to read in Tap the Wire about the high percentage of Fortune Global 100 companies using social media, and the statistics for the preferred platforms in different world regions. Nancy Davis Kho mentions that just about all companies should ‘want to reach clients in local markets using social media’. At Orkney Library & Archive we are about to celebrate our first year as twitter users, and in that time we have found it an invaluable tool for informing and interacting with our service users.

Serving a population spread over twenty islands, social media enables us to engage with our users in ways never before possible and helps get our message out into the heart of our communities; these platforms are used by everyday people of all ages, people who may not have been aware of what we can do for them. Similar to the role of the companies reviewed in this issue, we have also found social media a great means of making business contacts, including information professionals, authors and publishers. It’s also how I came to be writing this introduction to another excellent issue of VIP; I hope you enjoy it.
    
Stewart Bain is VIP's guest editor for May. Stewart Bain is responsible for Reader Development at Orkney Library & Archive

This editorial appears in VIP Magazine No. 78, May 2010. Purchase online >>

Start your annual subscription >>

Take a three-month trial >>

« Blog