Review: Classmates.com
Classmates.com started out in 1995 with the simple premise of helping people reconnect with old school friends. Its phenomenal growth to over 35 million members is a testament to the power of the internet to connect people on a large scale and of their desire to do so. And while the stories coming out of Classmates.com have been predominantly about people hooking up with childhood best friends and sweethearts, it’s also an exceptional resource for business networking. Alumni organizations have always been a great networking resource because of the strong underlying personal ties. Also, Classmates.com has recently added workplace alumni groups and topical interest groups to their system, which increases its value as a business networking tool significantly. Expect to see this area grow rapidly.
Their years of experience hooking up schoolmates really pay off in the business networking arena. Classmates.com supports exceptionally robust profiles and bios, broken out by aspects of your life, e.g., life (general), work, college, school, and military service. They also offer a global search, allowing you to hook up with other people with similar interests or backgrounds, even who you may not have had any prior contact with. And their integration with e-mail is particularly impressive, in that they will automatically send you announcements of new members or newly updated profiles of your classmates and former co-workers.
The only limitation we really see with Classmates.com as a business networking resource is that the vast majority of users have not filled out their profiles very extensively - a common problem on all networking sites. Until that changes, it will be of limited usefulness in terms of meeting new people individually simply based on similar interests or background. However, the new interest groups provide that opportunity to an extent, and given the feature-richness of the platform and the growing importance of online networking, we expect that to change quickly. And it continues to be the primary (U.S.) resource for people to reconnect with old friends and business associates online.
Unfortunately, most of these ‘goodies’ do not stretch outside the borders of the USA ! I know it is not your mistake or theirs. It may be ours outside the USA ,,, so no critique and no blaming !!]
Instead, I know that the Internet has penetrated every corner in the globe, universities and schools have already added their websites and enrich them by the clock.
It may be a good idea to offer such institutions a tool to provide a link to their admission system and their historical records. Also, it maybe a good idea to offer another free ‘Virtual Classmates Club’ for x-graduates of such institutions.
This may help turn classmate service into a truly global service.
Comment by Mohammed Thiab — 3/8/2004 @ 4:58 pm
Mohammed:
Have you checked out FriendReunited or Alumni.net? These both have a much larger international audience. FriendsReunited focuses on English-speaking countries (UK, Australia, NewZealand) and Europe, but Alumni.Net is worldwide.
Comment by ScottAllen — 3/9/2004 @ 2:00 pm
[…] a subscription fee. Translation: this is an attempt to monetize Classmates eyeballs. We profiled Classmates as part of our network site guide. […]
Pingback by Online Business Networks Blog » ISP United Online buying Classmates Online — 10/26/2004 @ 2:46 pm
I received two solicitation emails from Classmates.com within one week of signing up with them, even though I had opted out of any email subscriptions. When I signed up, I understood from their web site disclaimers that I might receive a “service” announcement from Classmates.com from time to time even though I had chosen not to receive any offers or other solicitation-type emails. That’s fine, I understand companies need to reach their members about technical, support and policy issues once in a while. But emails with an invitation to upgrade my registration to their Gold membership or to post pictures on my profile (which I believe can only be done when you are a Gold member) are NOT “service” announcements, which makes their web site disclaimers misleading. They are solicitations aimed at increasing their revenues, and they clearly are using this tactic to get around members who opt-out of receiving email solicitations under the guise of “service.”
As the e-commerce business analyst for a Fortune 100 company, I find this practice reprehensible and consider it one no respectable web site would use. I would advise anyone using Classmates.com to drop their subscription and would strongly suggest anyone thinking about signing up with them to avoid them at all costs.
Comment by Tiffany Taylor — 1/30/2005 @ 11:02 pm