StarCite founder John Pino has launched the beta version of his "worldwide professional and social network for meeting and event planners," called i-Meet. The site follows last month's social network beta launch for travel professionals by American Express and the National Business Travel Association.
Like other social networks, Pino's i-Meet site enables participants to share resumes, photos and other information, publish profiles, start blogs, add friends, join groups and rate services. The site also offers meeting tools including requests for information.
"In addition to being a vibrant community where one can share, i-Meet is a marketplace where planners can connect, communicate and receive information that is current, creative and advantageous," the site proclaims. "Membership is free, and the power of i-Meet is limited only by your imagination! I-Meet is [also] designed to help suppliers capture long-term interest opportunities--a new and exciting way to build a pipeline cost-effectively. Suppliers are able to influence destination and venue decisions, and to be engaged with prospects while they are deciding."
The site's business model includes sponsorships and advertising. There is a supplier database and opportunities for vendors to buy keywords, banner ads, "enhanced" listings, special offers and "qualified leads."
Lead generation was described as a side benefit by American Express Business Travel vice president of corporate affairs and communications Alicia Tillman, who is heading the planned October launch of a new online community for corporate travel industry professionals. An effort to "bring together travel managers and buyers, suppliers, industry thought leaders and others to share information and best practices," the site is not a "pure marketing and public relations tool," Tillman said.
Amex's Businesstravelconnexion.com will offer "discussion boards, blogs, editorial tagging and reviews," as well as "editorials, case studies, benchmarking tools, event calendars and other research tools," with content contributions from guests, Amex itself, as well as monthly postings by NBTA.
Both i-Meet and the Amex site allow free registrations, though Amex said its site is "largely closed to the public" except for business travel industry professionals.
NBTA does not already have its own online networking platform, but a spokesman said its email-based networking mailing list remains "incredibly active" among direct buyer members. In a blog item posted on i-Meet, Cardinal Communications president, founder and CEO Rodman Marymor cited earlier meeting industry efforts to create online communities using bulletin boards and e-mail, but suggested that such initiatives sputtered mainly because, he said, they lacked the sort of "content-rich interpersonal connectivity" found in modern social networks.
The NBTA spokesman said the organization could offer a community platform on its own site: "Right now it's all experimentation," he said. With online communities, "the audience is not necessarily really engaged, at least within this profession." An Association of Corporate Travel Executives community beta site launched late last year has had little activity.
Other social networks are more directly targeted to travelers, but the opportunity for travel professionals to use the new platforms to interact with one another is relatively untapped. Many travel industry professionals do use Linked-In, a job-oriented site for business people that has travel groups.
"Social networks, online communities, blogs and message boards represent a whole new channel to influence buying decisions," according to Amex's Tillman. "There's no reason we won't see some of these activities take form in the business-to-business space. It's not happening much right now. I can't point to corporate buyers using such technology and we haven't seen a platform with a robust amount of information sharing to help with buying decisions or to help people build a network or a community."
Pino first described the i-Meet site to Management.travelin February during an interview about his departure from day-to-day management at StarCite. He remains on the board.