Commercial Investigations llc
270 River St. Suite 3R
Troy NY 12180
Phone: 518-271-7546 / 518-470-6813
Fax: 212-937-3858
www.commercialinvestigationsllc.com
News Release
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Michelle Pyan, President, Commercial Investigations LLC, 518-271-7546
michellepyan@
November 2008 (Troy, NY) Many companies block employee access to social networking
sites such as MySpace and Facebook. In the future this may seem as ridiculous as blocking
employees from using Microsoft Windows. Social networking is becoming less of a novelty
and more a part of the functional web. Salesforce.com, LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook as
well as Microsoft, Yahoo and Google are all trying to compete, yet collaborate, as the web
continues to evolve.
The result is that online social networks may finally be turning a corner towards becoming
useful business tools. The days of “poking” your friends online, getting bitten by a virtual
vampire or sending someone a virtual margarita may finally give way to productive workdays
spent in social networks getting some actual work done. LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace
are already useful for networking and collaborating with people in your field as well as
prospecting for new clients or employees. But will the web “widgets” or “gadgets” of the future
that are developed and deployed in”containers”
change the way we sue d the web for business. With the OpenSocial standard being led by
Google, more companies are definitely going to try.
OpenSocial is an initiative being led by Google, in partnership with MySpace and others, to
develop a common set of application programming interfaces (APIs). This means that a
developer can create an application in OpenSocial and not have to write separate code
specifically for each “container that it will run in. over 18 Companies and social networks have
joined the OpenSocial initiative. Facebook is not one of them.
Prior to the OpenSocial announcement by Google, there was tremendous buzz within Silicon
Valley when Facebook launched its own API and opened up its site to developers early in
2007. Later in 2007, Microsoft purchased a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook for $240 million. In
the middle of the Yahoo! and Microsoft merger talks there is a battle for the big web
companies over a piece of this “platform”
developing and leveraging a web operating system, further evident by Google's introduction
of its own web browser, Google Chrome.
So what does OpenSocial mean for business networks or established companies looking to
monetize and extend their presence on the web? There is a thin line between social network
and a professional network. For example, Oracle and Salesforce.com were once early
supporters of OpenSocial.
A likely trend Is that more established brick and mortar companies will be developing APIs.
With other initiatives like OpenID, users will expect more data portability. This is likely to affect
online business models as well. If the right application related to your business expertise and
niche is developed, it could become useful and portable across many sites and be different
software.
At commercial Investigations, we have developed an application called CIChecked or
Certified Identification. Currently, it's an online identity verification trust mark that can be
purchased at CIChecked.com and then displayed on users' online profiles and email
signatures. As more real world transactions and interactions happen online, our model will be
able to integrate background screening into many online environments.
In the future your clients may spend a majority of their work day in the “container”
choice, and the availability of your application to run within that container could mean getting
their business or not. An open mind and being open to OpenSocial could make all the
difference.
Commercial Investigations llc (CI), a full service licensed private investigative agency, offers thorough and
affordable employment Background Investigations. CI provides accurate, timely, cost effective and fully
compliant reports supported by high standards of customer service. CI also offers consulting services to assist
organizations with reviewing and auditing their Background Investigations processes for compliance,
effectiveness and efficiency. CI provides the Proactive Truth(tm) regarding applicants, thereby reducing turnover
and limiting exposure to civil liability.
