It is two days since we launched the new References feature on our platform. In doing so we have fulfilled a direct feature request from a great deal of members and created a valuable additional networking tool that helps vouch for the quality of your work.

As a Premium Member, you can display references to other members in your profile and receive recommendations from any XING member, whether Premium or basic. So how is the best way to make the most of your references on XING? (more…)

Are you familiar already with our Xpert Ambassador Groups? Besides almost 150 Regional XING Ambassador Groups based around the globe, Xpert Ambassador Groups are dedicated to a specific subject or profession. 17 of these groups exist already – from Controlling to Media through to the food industry and vocational training, to name just a few. More than half of these groups already have over ten thousand members, and the majority of them also have lively English forums as well of course. (more…)

It’s always more believable when you hear praise from someone else. It’s no wonder that recommendation marketing is booming, and is being used more and more for acquiring new clients. When looking for a job, references are a big plus, too: they attest to the quality of your work, and are less formal than official letters of recommendation from your boss.

Turn your XING contacts into your references

As a XING Premium Member, you can now ask your contacts to act as references for you, and display these references in a separate area on your profile (you’ll find it when you click on the link under “References and Awards”. So go ahead and ask your contacts to tell your network what they think of you. A satisfied client or boss can make a big difference on how others see you. (more…)

The XING Jobs section has benefited from it for a while now, and now our XING Partner Ecosystem is getting the feedback treatment – with a new rating system for our range of apps.

The principle behind this system is just as intuitive as the one in XING Jobs: You install an application, try it out – and then rate it with just one click of your mouse on the main page (“canvas view”, where the app takes up almost the whole screen). You can of course go back and change your rating later, for instance if you’re impressed by a new feature that is added. (more…)

The best kind of news provokes an interested reaction or a brief message of congratulation – something that takes little effort on your part and is bound to please the person with the news. And best of all, it imprints you on their memory once again.

Being able to see which contacts have a birthday on your home page (the birthday reminders via mail are ideal here too) or when contacts post something interesting in their status message is practically an open invitation to get in touch. You might well come across profile changes in “What’s new in your network” that could also give cause for congratulation: A new job, a change of address or promotion. Setting up an RSS feed means you don’t miss out on anything. (For more details here, have a read of my previous posts Status update: Keeping your network in-the-know and Quick start your networking by customizing your home page.) (more…)

Not long to go now until XING celebrates its 6th birthday in November.

We’d love members to join in the celebrations over the coming weeks – and you’re all very welcome to take part in our birthday sweepstake.

There are 72 great prizes to be won:

• 1 x MacBook Air
• 1 x Jura automatic coffee machine
• 2 x BlackBerry Curve 8900
• 3 x BlackBerry Curve 8520
• 5 x iPod shuffle
• 60 x 12-month Premium Membership

For a chance to win just answer the question on our sweepstake page! (more…)

There are many html forms on XING – when you sign up, when you write a message, or when you discuss in a group. We do most of our form validations on the server side. This allows us to apply complex validations, prevents code duplication, and apply security checks.

This works well – you define the requirements for the specific field (such as <input>) and Rails returns the page with an error message, also highlighting the corresponding field in red. Sounds good, but that’s actually where the problem is. Rails surrounds the field with a <div> that is styled via CSS. (more…)

Small patches such as the new shiny tabs in the profile, a new OpenSocial application and some new functions: The changes made to the platform today will both increase your level of security as a XING member and better integrate OpenSocial applications with member profiles.

Security: Reporting contact requests as spam

You now have a more direct way of marking contact requests as spam. Instead of going to a member’s profile to mark a contact request as inappropriate, you can do this directly under the Contacts to confirm tab. (more…)

Anyone who uses the Internet should make sure to protect their privacy and be very careful about giving away personal information. After all, anything you find in the offline world, you’ll find in some form in the online world too, and unfortunately positive experiences and people with good intentions aren’t the only things you’ll come across. That’s why it’s important to stay alert and use common sense when using social networks. It’s possible for dubious offers to show up on XING, too. If you come across any, please report the member and the message to us. Although the site provides you with a certain level of protection, there are also things you can do as a user to protect yourself and your privacy.

First of all, it’s important for every user to think about what type of information they want people to be able to search for to find them. What private information are you willing to make public? And what information do you consider to be too private to reveal to the general public? When you know where your boundaries are, it is very easy to control your profile and the way you use the Internet. (more…)

This year, Oliver Williamson, who teaches at UC Berkeley, was co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics (he shared the prize with Elinor Ostrom).

Admittedly, the official explanation by the Nobel Committee is hard for a layman to understand. He is being honored “for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm”.

You also may be wondering what all of this has to do with XING. Quite frankly, a lot. Oliver Williamson is particularly famous for his concept of “transaction costs”, meaning costs associated with doing business with suppliers. These include costs for searching for the right partner, costs for making the initial contact, negotiation expenses, and also costs connected with a contract signing. (more…)