Anyone logging in to our homepage and switching between login fields using the tab button will find it easier from now on to get networking even faster – as we’ve optimized this.

Our OpenSocial application Ask XING has also had a slight algorithmic makeover this week – meaning that it can now process certain special characters more effectively. What’s more, members can now formulate paragraphs into their questions or answers. Our suggested matches for relevant discussions are now based on your current industry and the keywords you have entered under “Haves”.

We will of course keep on releasing both minor and major developments on our platform over the coming weeks – and will be sure to let you know about them here in the Release Flash. You’re also very welcome to discuss these new releases in the XING Group.

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.

References can be given with or without an explanatory letter, depending on the wishes of the referee.  Of course, you can always hide references you receive, or even delete them. Furthermore, all members who use this new feature can also act as a reference for their contacts, and to view references of other people.

“Word of mouth marketing” makes you and your “brand” more legit

The advantage of getting XING References is that anyone who visits your profile can see who recommended you. Your network is the best evidence that you’re a capable, trustworthy individual, with services or products to match.

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!

As well as our competition, you’ll also be able to benefit from various great special offers when upgrading to Premium Membership.

Our current special birthday offer up until 10 November: Sign up for a 12-month Premium Membership and get two additional Premium months for free!

Go to the offer page now.

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.

Please note: Spam contact requests are not simply requests from members you don’t want to be connected to. For cases like this, you can simply decline the contact request (see also Silke Schippmann’s post Declining contact requests … How do I put this delicately?).

The point of marking a contact request as spam is to identify any members who are trying to send out dubious offers to a large number of people. It would be a good idea to use this button, for example, if someone you don’t know offers you a large amount of money, wants to have your email address or asks you to go to an external Internet address that looks like a XING address. Our support team handles all requests anonymously. (You can read more about this in Silke Schippmann’s post on Security and Privacy).

Even easier: Direct links to Tungle, SlideShare and Ask XING

We are also improving the integration of OpenSocial applications and XING member profiles. Now it just takes one click from a member’s profile view and you can start making an appointment through Tungle, view SlideShare presentations or take a look at questions and answers on Ask XING.

The XING Partner Ecosystem is also growing: Netviewer, the 17th OpenSocial application on our platform, allows you to easily organize and conduct online conferences. Go here to see a list of all XING applications.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment regarding OpenSocial applications using our feedback tool UserVoice (the “Feedback” link at the right) or discuss the topic in the XING Group.

Company Profiles now with industry listing.

You asked for it, and today we’re shipping it: Now you can now add clickable links to your status messages.

Share interesting sites and finds with your contacts, now without having to copy and paste the URL. When your contact clicks on the status message, it will open in a new tab. (Please also see Keeping your network in the know.)

What’s more, this week for the first time you can see the Company Profiles on XING sorted by industry. And finally, as a Premium Member you can now see “Visitors to my profile” when you view your own profile.

But that’s not all: A change to a maintenance algorithm means we have now speeded up group performance during the later hours of the evening, around midnight. So whenever you come home from an after-work party and feel like taking a browse through your favorite groups, you’ll find surfing the forums will be a much more fluid experience from now on.

We’ve also enhanced our Search feature so that it copes better with accents and apostrophes in member’s names. This will make it easier to locate and make contact with people on an international scale.

Many of you have mentioned this limitation in UserVoice, and requested you be given more room to explain your contact requests in more detail. After all, members explained, although some contacts are easy to sum up in one or two succinct sentences, there are others that require more space.

600 characters for your contact requests

Since you asked for it, we’ve delivered it: Now Premium Members have twice as much room to type in their contact requests. This improvement is a direct consequence of your request, and a further improvement to our service to members.

We decided it would be best to keep a character limit for initial contact requests, as business today is fast-moving, and a well-focused request is still worthwhile. We tried to strike a balance here between the wishes of active networkers who wanted to tell a bit more about themselves when expanding their network, and members receiving these requests, who undoubtedly can appreciate the many virtues of brevity. Naturally, all other messages you write on XING are not limited in length.

The improvement process we’ve been using so far – starting with user feedback and making developments from there – will continue here at XING. You’re sure to hear more about upcoming features and improvements right here, on the “Wednesday Release Flash”!

Upload files to profile

To upload a file, just go to your profile, then to the “References & awards” area. You can choose separately for each file whether it will be visible only to your contacts, or to the entire XING network. Uploads are not visible to XING non-members.

You can upload a total of three files with up to 2 Mb a piece. Three file formats are permitted at present, PDF for documents, PNG and JPG for image files. Despite their popularity, MS Word documents are not permitted for several reasons. They can contain dangerous macro viruses, and they do not display properly on all platforms and systems. Finally, they are not protected from manual changes. In contrast, a PDF looks the same on every system, and makes a professional impression.

Convert text documents to PDF

How to do so depends on which program you start with:

• MS Word 2007 allows you to export the document directly as a PDF. Just click on the Office logo on the upper left, select “Save as” and then “PDF or XPS”.
• OpenOffice.org also allows you to export as a PDF; the option can be found under the “File” drop-down column.
• Converting to a PDF is easy with Mac OS X: Using Pages from the iWork Suite, Office 2004 or 2008, or using OpenOffice.org or NeoOffice, just click on the “Print” menu (not the symbol for fast printing), and then select “PDF” on the bottom left.
• If you work on a Windows machine with an earlier version of Office, you can use one of several mini programs allowing you to convert to a PDF (two examples are CutePDF and PrimoPDF). If you don’t want to install a program, you can convert docs online at Media-Convert.

By the way: Your new upload will appear to your contacts in their “What’s new in my network” box, and is sure to whet their interest to find out more about you.

For every third new member who signs up in response to your invitation, we’ll give you one month of Premium Membership for free. And there’s more: Those people you invite will also receive a Premium month free of charge – the ideal way to start networking with one another!

If you’re tempted by the idea of inviting lots of your email contacts at once, you can use the “Invite contacts from your address book” option. Or you can also integrate your own personal invitation link into your email signature, homepage or blog.

Why not go straight to the XING Invitation Special Offer and start inviting right now!

Doodle is the world’s leading online scheduling tool with more than three million users a month – most of whom come from Germany, Switzerland and North America. The service takes the pain out of finding the right date and time for a group of busy people to meet. With three simple steps you can create a poll and find a suitable date.

Three quick steps to the right time!

Doodle makes it easy to find the right time and closes tha gaps between calendars.

Now available on XING

Once it was launched on XING, Doodle quickly became one of the most popular third-party applications, and has received a great deal of praise as well as various suggestions for improvement. We immediately responded to the most frequent requests by implementing the following changes:

• You can now merge your XING Doodle account with your “normal” Doodle account so that you have the same overview with both accounts.
• You can use a convenient search function to select and invite participants.
• You can invite additional participants even after you have created a poll.

Doodle as a business tool

You will be impressed with Doodle’s ability to simplify your work and keep your information secure. It functions independently of company-internal scheduling systems, so it can be used with Outlook, Google Calendar, iCal & Co., and can be synchronized with most electronic calendars. That’s why many large and international companies use Doodle, e.g. Sun Microsystems (read their Doodle use case). The fact is that managers spend a large part of their work week arranging appointments if they don’t use Doodle (see press release: 1st International Study on Scheduling Trends). Doodle’s company solution Branded Doodle is an excellent platform to make use of a scheduling tool for a dedicated brand presence.

Take the Friday afternoon off!

Managers and administrative staff spend almost five hours a week arranging meetings using traditional means. By using more efficient tools, like the online scheduler Doodle, professionals could take a Friday afternoon off every week

Install Doodle on XING.

More about Doodle.