OneForty Aims to Become a Social Business Hub: Online Collaboration«

Today,OneFortyofficially announced a new direction for the company and the site. Over the past few months, the online community and searchable database of Twitter-related apps has grown and expanded beyond its original Twitter focus.

The company now aims to become an indispensable“buyers guide” for the businessperson looking for social media strategists and consultants, in addition to social business software. There are currently 120“Social Business Pro” profiles, which are designated with a red badge on their profile, often in conjunction with a yellow“All Star” badge. which designates their active participation on the OneForty site.

OneForty wants its database and online community to become the one-stop shop for anyone’s social business needs. Initially created as a consumer tool to help make sense of Twitter apps, the site has moved on to a  B2B plan. In not-so-stealth mode, OneForty has amassed over 700 guides, called“toolkits”, which are lists of apps grouped by ways to use them accompanied by useful resources to help guide any businessperson in the use of social media for their company. The general consumer is not left out of OneForty, however: there is still an option the on the home page to view the site for personal versus business recommendations.

OneForty founder Laura Fitton said her team followed the lead of its users, the majority of whom were focusing their searches, reviews and other activities on the site around creating business-oriented toolkits.

One newer area for participation on the site— useful to showcase expertise— is a Quora-like Q and A section calledOneForty Answers. Future offerings on OneForty will include more content such as webinars, e-books and a blog, all designed to help people figure out how to best use social media for business. Item pages will be enhanced over time by highlighting key information for the business decision-maker, including price data.

OneForty hopes to help small to mid-sized business owners who are being inundated with solicitations from social media consultants and agencies, as well as from social media tool companies claiming to have the best solution around. Through reviews, recommendations, answers and other vetting done by the OneForty community, the site is well-positioned to be much more than just a Twitter resource.

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