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…)

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.) (more…)

Here at XING we’re in the midst of celebrating our collective birthday (number six!), and part of the celebrations is to offer our members discounts on Premium Membership.

This week, you can get one euro (or one dollar, depending on where you live) off per month. That means that you can get the most out of XING with all Premium features for only €3.95/$4.95 a month.

Click here to go to the limited time offer! (more…)

Regardless of whether you already have hundreds of contacts or are just starting out with a close-knit group of personal acquaintances: Successful networking is all about managing, maintaining and deepening those contact ties. Wishing them a Happy Birthday if one example of this (check out our convenient reminders here) – but more importantly still it is the ability to identify and be aware of your contacts’ needs, skills and positions, and then to make use of these to your advantage.

Do you know which of your contacts is based in New York, which in Boston and which in Atlanta? Who can speak Portuguese in your network? Who’s a whizz at Photoshop? Who has good contacts in mechanical engineering? It is at times when time is pressing that it pays off most to have a highly organized network.
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