A New Generation of Business Professionals Learns to Hobnob!

    /24-7PressRelease/ - MILWAUKEE, WI, October 23, 2007 - Hobnob!, a new Facebook application designed by Area 444 LLC, offers Facebook users a streamlined and novel way to expand their professional network. Wildly popular as a social networking forum, Facebook has over 47 million active users with 200,000 new users joining every day. Recently, Facebook began adding new functionality to its developer API designed to facilitate professional networking within the community. Recognizing the vast potential of Facebook as a professional networking tool, Area 444 is introducing Hobnob! to help amplify the native networking power within Facebook.

"Hobnob! mirrors the way that people network in the 'real' world," says Area 444's co-founder and creative director, Jeff Fitzsimmons. "If I am looking to hire someone, I put feelers out to my network. Our goal with Hobnob! is to better organize this process, expand the reach of each individual's network, and thereby improve the overall likelihood of success."

Hobnob! allows users to request help from their friends within the trusted social environment of Facebook. Hobnobbers are able to send their friends short messages outlining a basic request (e.g., looking for a job). When friends choose to help, Hobnobbers are able to extend their professional network dramatically. By keeping Hobnobbers' requests and responses within one central location, Hobnobbers can track their various networking opportunities quickly and easily.

Hobnob! tracks all the requests and publicly posts these queries in the "Latest Requests" section of the application. Hobnobbers can view and respond directly to any of these global requests. To help establish a trust-level, responders are labeled as a "Friend," "Friend of a Friend," or "Facebook Stranger."

"For years, Facebook has been the social network of choice for college students," notes Jeff Fitzsimmons. "Now that Facebook is open to the general public and provides new networking functionality, why would these new professionals bother building a new contact list and network on another site?"

About Area 444
Founded in 2006, Area 444 is an online media production company dedicated to exploring social networking strategies. In September, Area 444 launched another Facebook application geared at social connections, Friend Connector. Area 444's main web property, Comic Wonder, is the first competitive arena for joke-telling online.

For more information on our media properties or social media application development practice, please contact Kelly Fitzsimmons at (414)235-1002.

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