Facebook forbidden? Six alternative social tools for business

Tibbr excels at all of that. You can post events and see who can attend, create virtual workspaces, carry out office polls, and share documents without worrying about any security issues. The app is not like the public resume and collaborative environment of LinkedIn, either. It's intended to run as a self-contained private social net for business use only that can run on-premise on your own network to meet compliance regs or in the cloud (using tight security and without any public exposure).

5. LinkedIn

http://www.linkedin.com

The gold standard for business social networking, LinkedIn has become more than just a competitor to Facebook. The service now shows rankings for people you've connected with in a similar manner to Klout. You can then make decisions about whether you want to work with that person and their influence. LinkedIn has a robust publishing platform as well, and it's available for anyone to use. (Previously, you had to be an Influencer.)

Company reps can post blog entries and then track how many people are reading the content. The Recommendations and Endorsements features help those in business make stronger social connections. One of the most helpful features is simply the search component, which allows you to find other people in your industry, read what they have to say on related topics, and even find sales leads for your company.

6. Klout

http://www.klout.com

What was once a ranking system to find out whether people in business have influence in their field, Klout is morphing into a social networking platform. Recent additions include the ability to post articles and schedule when they appear. You can look up a business associate's Klout score and connect over other social platforms. Klout is also a good way to find background info on business contacts, especially if you want to see what they do for a living and any personal milestones.

John Brandon
Contributor

John Brandon has covered gadgets and cars for the past 12 years having published over 12,000 articles and tested nearly 8,000 products. He's nothing if not prolific. Before starting his writing career, he led an Information Design practice at a large consumer electronics retailer in the US. His hobbies include deep sea exploration, complaining about the weather, and engineering a vast multiverse conspiracy.