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Ridgefielder's Web site helps people build social contacts
04/19/09
posted by John
Written by Kate Czaplinski, Acorn Press Staff Published Sunday, April 19, 2009
Whether it’s a New York City tech entrepreneur hosting afternoon tea, an Australian businessman in Japan looking to meet for morning coffee or a local recruiter hosting an event for women starting home businesses — Ridgefielder John Boyd has provided a forum for thousands of people to build their social contacts through MeetingWave.com.
Mr. Boyd founded the free site that focuses on connecting people in a face-to-face setting to encourage networking for business or social purposes.
The social networking site is based on evidence that networking is the best way to find a new job and new customers. MeetingWave is part of Mr. Boyd’s company, TTB Technologies, LLC — named for his first daughter, Taylor Tran Boyd. TTB was founded for “creating, developing, licensing and commercializing new technologies and intellectual property.”
MeetingWave holds two U.S. patents and launched its first version in 2007 and the newest version last June. The site is described as “The free online tool to meet people offline.”
“I originally thought of the idea as a lawyer at a small firm in New York City,” Mr. Boyd said. “Working there it was drilled into us that ‘you eat what you kill’ so networking was a priority — taking up golf, setting up meetings.”
Mr. Boyd could have never predicted four years ago that his idea for a networking Web site would be such a helpful tool in a down economy — the rise in unemployment has brought new traffic to the site.
“I had imagined it more as a tool for corporations to connect with new customers,” Mr. Boyd said. “I never anticipated this [economic] slowdown. When I started even my friends said they were too busy to look at it. Now everyone checks it out.”
Mr. Boyd has lived in town for four years and juggles running his company from home while being a stay at-home dad for the family’s two children.
He’s hired professionals, who work all around the country, to help build and support the site.
MeetingWave encourages participants to set up profiles and begin searching for invitations to events near their homes or simply in their area of interest. Any member may create invitations. It’s the individual’s choice whom to meet, to invite and when to disclose their identity.
“It can be something as simple as coffee at the local Starbucks,” he said. “You can decline or ignore invitations or confirm.”
Mr. Boyd said that MeetingWave is original in its goal because unlike other social networking sites, it is focused on setting up in-person events.
The site has about 70,000 members now but the company wants that number to grow in the millions. He said the site is constantly getting better and changing things to suit users.
“A lot of people are coming to us through Google searches,” he said.
While many events tend to be located in big cities, Mr. Boyd hopes that Ridgefielders begin using MeetingWave, too.
“I’m thinking about putting up an invite for stay-at-home dads,” he said. “It can also be useful for promoting local services. A lawyer or Realtor can post a weekly lunch to talk about particular topic in their business.”
It’s a valuable tool for people who may be traveling for business or social purposes and want to meet with people who have similar interests.
In the future, Mr. Boyd said the site will help members better network within smaller groups, for example Alumni of Harvard.
The site has a mobile version and allows users to import contacts from LinkedIn, Gmail and Yahoo. MeetingWave has been accepted into UConn’s Innovation Accelerator program, which will further help the company develop marketing and business strategy, as well as evaluate new products in our pipeline.
Right now the focus is to get people talking and meeting through MeetingWave.
“Right now we are just focused on traction,” he said.
To learn more about the site visit www.meetingwave.com.
Source: http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25718:ridgefielders-web-site-helps-people-build-social-contacts&catid=52:rfd-people&Itemid=767
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