New Networking Site for Professionals in Massachusetts
Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) and the Boston Business Journal (BBJ) have announced plans to create an online networking and information community for business professionals throughout Massachusetts. The community will provide business people at all levels with the opportunity to build professional networks, exchange information, and keep track of important business news in real time.
"It will be a great way for people to create and maintain professional connections in a tough economy," said Richard C. Lord, President and Chief Executive Officer of AIM. "The community will be the premiere stop for Massachusetts business people seeking to network and gain the kind of critical business information we all need to ride out the economic storm. And no one can provide that information better than Associated Industries of Massachusetts and the Boston Business Journal," Lord said.
The first-of-its-kind partnership brings together the 6,500 members of AIM, the state’s premier employer association, and the BBJ, the business newspaper of record for Massachusetts. It marks the first such partnership nationally between a statewide employer association and a major news organization on a social/professional media initiative.
AIM will be the corporate sponsor of a new professional networking site created by the BBJ and its parent company, American City Business Journals of Charlotte, North Carolina. AIM will also host a series of communities within the BBJ site on topics ranging from Business & Politics, Human Resources Management and International Trade.
Michael G. Olivieri, Publisher of the BBJ, said the newspaper and AIM intend to jump-start the new community with thousands of subscribers and members who already interact with the two organizations through subscriptions, advertising, meetings, and special events.
"There are thousands of online communities, but only one that will offer the trusted business-news gathering prowess of the BBJ and the unmatched government-affairs expertise of AIM. The community will simply extend the role of the BBJ as a gathering place for business professionals who read the newspaper, depend on the annual Book of Lists or network at our many events," Olivieri said.
Founded in 1915, Associated Industries of Massachusetts is the largest employer association in Massachusetts. The organization acts as the primary voice of business on government affairs issues and also provides human-resource and management education services to hundreds of employers each year.
The Boston Business Journal is the region’s leading source of local business news and information services, reaching more than 100,000 business executives each week in print and more than 250,000 each month through its daily email newsletter and web site. The BBJ Specializes in reporting on the area’s growth companies and the people who are leading them, and pays close attention to the intersection of business and civic life and the philanthropic activities of the business community.
