XING is a household name when it comes to business networking, while Outlook is a core feature of business correspondence. So what could be more logical than to link these two key business components? Do you want to see the latest developments and news about your XING network, and receive automatic contact details updates? If so, that’s precisely what the Outlook Social Connector will do when released. As things stand, the Connector is expected to be available for downloading from http://www.xing.com/outlook from mid-June 2010.

The XING plug-in for the Outlook Social Connector offers the following features: (more…)

Editor’s note: We’re happy to publish this guest blog from Ms. Kathrin Wieland, CEO of Save the Children Deutschland, and urge anyone who can to support the project.

Just hours after the earthquake in Haiti, our teams went to work coordinating the emergency assistance efforts and handing out supplies. Groceries, drinking water, medicine, and hygiene sets to reduce the risk of a medical epidemic were passed out. Working for the United Nations, Save the Children is building safe protection zones for traumatized children.

We estimate that two million children are currently in serious danger. Over 170 Save the Children employees are already at work, and more are on the way. We are particularly concerned about reports that young children are running through the streets, confused and disoriented, and sleeping outdoors, surrounded by corpses. In dramatic situations such as this, children can fall victim to attacks and kidnapping. We want to do everything we can to improve the situation quickly. (more…)

XING Networking in Dusseldorf.

This last year was an exciting one for the Ambassador Program. Starting with 154 Ambassadors and 106 regional Ambassador Groups in January, the program ended December with 229 Ambassadors and 148 groups. Now, XING members in 46 countries around the world can meet their contacts face to face at Ambassador Group Events.

There were Ambassador Group Events held in Shanghai, Singapore, Spain and Turkey, Guatemala City (also see the article on “XING Guatemala and the 200th Ambassador“), Indonesia, and more. Oh, and let’s not forget the dozens of German groups. (more…)

With our new bonus system, inviting people to join XING now pays off even faster than before.

Up until now you had to send 10 successful invitations or recruit a new Premium Member to receive a free Premium month. Now though we’ll give you free access to all the benefits of Premium Membership for a whole month for every 7th member you invite who registers on XING.

We also have a welcome gift in store for the person you have invited as well: one month’s Premium Membership for free. This way there are plenty benefits for both of you to gain!

The offer, whereby the inviter receives a free Premium month if the person invited upgrades to Premium, is no longer applicable. (more…)

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from dofair project manager Alexander Brommer.

There’s a lot of searching going on in the Internet, especially using a certain well-branded search engine. Heck, a lot of people even search for things they could type into the browser themselves. Ever find yourself googling for YouTube? I thought so. Sometimes, too, you need to switch between different searches, such as to compare prices or just different search results. The dofair.org search portal allows you to create a personal home page with search engines of your choice, simplifying even the most complicated search cocktail.

Just click on “Customize”, and then on the “Social Networks” area at the bottom of the page to add the XING search to your personalized dofair.org home page. Keep in mind that the search only works if you’re already logged into XING. (more…)

Have you taken part in our birthday sweepstake yet?

All you have to do is visit our sweepstake page and answer the question “What is a XING application?” to be in with a chance of winning one of 72 fantastic prizes.

We’re giving away a MacBook Air, a Jura automatic coffee machine, BlackBerry smartphones, iPod shuffles and 12-month XING Premium Memberships.

And there’s more – If you upgrade to Premium now you’ll also cash in on our special birthday offer: (more…)

A network such as XING, with millions of members around the world, is a bit like a microcosm of the larger society: nearly everything that happens “out there” also happens on our platform, both the good and the bad.  That’s why on XING, as in the real world, you should always be attentive to what’s happening. We do our best to create a business network in which members can decide for themselves how much personal information they wish to share with other members, and that they act in an appropriate manner. If a member does not act appropriately, and we hear reports of T&C violations or breaches of netiquette or just good manners, we’re happy to help.

We’re aware that XING is not completely free of harassment, inappropriate remarks, spam, and other violations described above. Although we’re convinced that only a small portion of our members are confronted with these types of contact, we take such situations very seriously, and encourage anyone affected to inform us immediately. (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…)

We’ve been asked about them many times over the years and are pleased to announce that they’re now available to you. That’s right, XING Premium Vouchers – the ideal gift for your business contacts.

They let you give XING Premium Memberships away as gifts – very conveniently at http://voucher.xing.com. They can be purchased now for a limited trial period to begin with. (more…)

The list of modifications that go live today is long, and components all across the platform are affected, from OpenSocial apps to Company Profiles (and invitations, too). But let’s do one at a time:

Why did that person click on my profile?

If you’re like me, you’re probably curious about what motivates Visitors to your profile. You’ll be happy to know that starting today, we provide more information when a XING member visits your profile by clicking from an OpenSocial app such as “Ask XING”. You can use this additional information to help you decide whether the person could be a valuable contact to you or not. (more…)