CorporateGrapevine vs. FaceBook or MySpace

A first look at the website and you think “Oh no not another social networking site! Haven’t we got enough of the existing ones? I already have an account with Facebook / MySpace and I am happy with it.”

This is the kind of feedback we received from most of our friends during the beta testing. Our reaction was to ask our friends to have a look again and just “not to judge a book by its cover”.

Firstly, this website is not about “social networking”, its about “Corporate Social Networking”. It natural for people to immediately compare it with LinkedIn but there again, it is not about building network with the outside world. The website’s primary focus is to get employees of a company together to share their thoughts, views, gossips, announcements, events, etc.

Lets say you heard a gossip going around your company “The bonus pool this year is reduced by 50%”, what do you do? Its no use discussing this with your friends and relatives that do not work in your organisation, as neither would they have a clue as to whether this is true or not nor would it be of great interest to them. This is where one needs to log on to CorporateGrapevine.

Each company has a Hot Talk section where members can share and spread corporate gossips. The user has the flexibility to post these by either disclosing or masking their identity. Each gossip can be discussed and rated as a fact or a bluff by other users of the Company.

"Because of flexibility of anonymous postings, people are encouraged to share all kinds of gossips on CorporateGrapevine without fear of being pointed out," explains Vishal. "The Hot Talk page is an easy way for the users to interact with each other and learn things they would not otherwise know."

Secondly, what do you do if you work onsite at a client’s place? How do you know what’s going on in your workplace back home? Are you able to keep updated on news such as is your past reporting manager still working or what happened to the office romance between Mr X and Mrs Y?

Thirdly, what do you do if you are still nostalgic about what’s going on in the first company that you ever worked for? Its said that the first company that you work for is like a kinder garden school, you always feel nostalgic and would want to know how your friends are and what’s going on in the organisation.

The website allows users to get membership access to public forums and restricted (private members only) forums for each of the companies that they subscribe to (an individual can join up to 3 companies).

So for those of you who had a look and didn’t join, I would request you to have a second look and if you still feel that it’s nothing new, then good luck!

Visit http://www.corporategrapevine.com/ to learn more and get connected to what’s going on in your organisation!

About CorporateGrapevine

CorporateGrapevine helps you connect through an invisible flow of gossips and rumours by weaving through all levels within an organisation. It is an online community of professionals who share gossips and their thoughts about anything and everything happening across organizations and industries. For more information, visit http://www.corporategrapevine.com/.

Contact:
Vishal, Co-Founder
vjajodia@corporategrapevine.com
or
Anshuman, Co-Founder
atripathy@corporategrapevine.com