After not replying to a couple of original invites from friends, I have finally joined the OpenBC social networking site this morning. First impressions:
- the user interface is very different from LinkedIn: it looks more sober, more field oriented, and somehow less interactive in the way to update you CV
- I couldn't find a way to upload my contact list to the system, even in .CSV format. The site will only accept an Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows contact list. Boooh! Metcalfe's Law states that the value of your network is proportional to the square of your users. Hey, if you're cutting me off here right now, don't expect me to use a lot. (I'm still happy using Palm Desktop)
- it seems the site is organised like a portal, with lots of features on the homepage, including links to an extract of the contact list, to forums, etc.
- Communications tools seems enhanced: you can write to someone directly from the site: it seems you can even use Voice-over-IP from the site (indeed, in the IM section, there are fields for your IM IDs for MSN, Y!IM, ICQ, AIM and Skype!)
- somewhere I saw a mention that it supports RSS feeds.
Good start, but don't make it too difficult for me: I already hate having multiple IM clients, I will soon hate having multiple social networking IDs... Don't you think that the killer app for OpenBC would be to create an import mechanism from your LinkedIn profile ;)
