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When you are in any type of business, the people you know are everything. You need to have good connections with partners, peers, colleagues, clients, vendors and even just friends. An ever-expanding, strong network is the most important key to a successful small business.
Unfortunately, business travelers today don't often have spare time to meet people, socialize and network. Between getting to the airport several hours early for security purposes, to sitting on a plane for an extra half-hour after it lands, business travelers all agree that traveling is the biggest drain on productivity. But now, that is all changing thanks in part to several niche travelers' social networking sites.
Websites such as Planely, IMGuest, TripIt and Plancast all are finding ways to connect business travelers to each other and help them make better use of their time. You can find out if someone on your flight is attending the same conference as you and maybe even get some deals done before you land. You can find a buddy with whom to share a cab or just meet people who, like you, are in a strange city for business.
With Planely, you enter in your flight information and the free service will connect you with other Planely users on the same flight, or at the same arrival and departure airports. You can make arrangements to meet or even sit next to each other. Of course, this does create the opportunity for engaging in non-business-related activities, as demonstrated by a tweet on the site when we looked from a stephaniiebabii who was apparently bored at Sacramento International Airport and had an hour to kill.
IMGuest functions more like Foursquare. Users log into the service and check in at their location. Other users on the premises will see that they're there, can look at their profile and then procede to make plans. Later, you can mark the person as a "favorite guest" and follow them, getting email notifications the next time they check in, no matter where they are in the world.
TripIt has less to do with business or social networking and more with making your life easier. It promises to "turn chaos into order" by organizing your travel information into one online itinerary; automatically include maps, directions and weather reports; give you the ability to make restaurant reservations or book show tickets; and even check in for flights. TripIt for Business is designed for office administrators, letting them book, organize and track multiple employees. And TripIt Pro sends flight delays, cancellations and gate changes to users' phones; keeps track of frequent-flyer points; and much more.
With Plancast, you don't necessarily even need to be traveling. It "helps you find out about events and other social activities ahead of time ...." In other words, rather than sharing with your social network where you are, Plancast lets you share where you will be. It's a new site so can be excused for not offering up exhaustive lists of upcoming activities (when I created my account and included "Music" as a category of interest, all that it brought up were Lady GaGa and Sade concerts, and I'm reasonably certain Las Vegas has more than just that going on).
Using these services is a great way to build your network and increase your productivity while traveling. Businesspeople everywhere can now have a much more connected, and maybe even profitable, experience while traveling.
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