This is probably the type of thing I should be blogging about. The phrase “right in my wheelhouse” comes to mind. The intersection of several of my favourite things: accounting, technology, and social networks.
Microsoft has announced a new “community” around Dynamics Live specifically for accounting and finance professionals. The site isn’t named yet but if you join now you can participate in the poll to rename it and vote for any of three uninspiring names: Capital Chat, Finance Forum, or Net Knowledge.
I joined up, the better to assess its chances at gaining a foothold in a rapidly evolving sphere.
Networks are only as good as their users, and LinkedIn already has a bundle of them. I wonder whether another network focused on this demographic, even if its further specializes at first in accounting and finance, can really offer something new.
Microsoft is planning to advertise the community through their Dynamics product, but the community may be perceived to be advertising for their other products.
I’ve read that Dynamics has respectable market penetration, and personal experience bears that out as several clients I personally work with use it. If Microsoft can harness their current users into producing quality content for the community, they may hold the key to attracting new users.
What do you think?
I don’t know about you Neil but I find the site confusing and when it’s not then it’s little more than thinly disguised Microsoft collateral. Looks like they’ve been taking lessons from Sage.
The site is way too busy. The front page needs to be streamlined to highlight the best content and possibly the newest content as well. Is there a way for members to rate content a la Digg? That would go a long way to improving the site’s value I think, because there is a few pieces on there that I found worth my time, but it’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.