• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, July 26, 2011

While big mass market social networks like Facebook and Twitter grab the headlines, a new generation of social networks for businesses is quietly expanding alongside. They include companies like Bizzingo, which is launching a business-to-business social network, and Socialcast, which allows businesses to create their own proprietary social networks for employees.

This week Bizzingo unveiled the first phase of its new B-to-B platform at www.Bizz.net, where companies can create profile pages describing their products and services, their business needs, and other business-related information using video, images, and company marketing materials and literature. Bizzingo also plans to introduce social media connectivity apps, enhanced search functions, turnkey lead generation, marketing and advertising, as well as general business Q&A forums. The overall goal is to create highly index-able (and searchable) profiles that will allow prospective partners, vendors, and customers to identify potential areas for commerce and collaboration.

Douglas Toth, chairman and CEO of Bizzingo, stated: "Bizz.net's new, exclusive business-to-business search platform and social network actually delivers targeted leads and, for the first time, opens up the power of the Internet to millions of businesses who only seek to market and connect to other businesses for the purpose of transacting business."

Meanwhile Socialcast (which was founded in 2005 and acquired by VMware at the end of May 2011) announced that businesses, which use its software to create proprietary social networks, can now selectively add partners, suppliers, and customers to these networks in special guest profiles, called "External Contributors," with access restricted to certain discussion groups, forums, or projects.

This step should make the social platform more collaboration- and transaction-oriented. Previously the proprietary networks supported by Socialcast were basically limited to the actual employees of each business. While network administrators could add non-employees, they were then included as full members, which might not be appropriate for some outside business contacts. Socialcast is also introducing a new org chart feature, which should help everyone keep the boundaries straight.