openBC (short for "Open Business Club") is a social software platform for enabling a small-world network for professionals. It is used by people from over 160 countries, albeit the majority of users are Germans. openBC is the only multilingual social business network allowing professionals to establish networks internationally. Languages currently available include English, German, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Chinese, Finnish, Swedish, Japanese, Turkish and many more. By displaying how each member is connected to any other member, it visualises the small-world phenomenon.

The platform offers personal profiles, groups, discussion forums, event coordination, and other common social community features. Basic membership is free. The platform uses https and has a rigid privacy and no-spam policy.

openBC started in November 2003 in Hamburg, Germany. It gained high attention in German media and is used a lot as business-network in German-speaking countries. Membership from other countries throughout Europe and the Far East helped growing the network platform to more than 1 million members in January 2006openBC Press Release openBC hits the 1 million member mark, 31 January, 2006.

OpenBC offers the system as well for closed communities, i.e. private clubs, academic clubs or corporate clubs with own access paths and own interface designs.

See also

• Social Software
• MySpace
• Neurona
• LinkedIn
• Ecademy
• Passado
• Orkut
• Miaplaza
• Rediff Connexions

References