Linking Universe is preparing to release a full version of our Facebook CRM application. We are calling it Linking Universe CS, and will refer to it as our ‘premium’ service.

Our Linking Universe Facebook application provides a great platform for analyzing your network, communicating with business friends, and sharing and tracking business referrals and opportunities. Our Facebook application is currently offered free of charge in the Facebook environment.

Our premium service provides advanced CRM features in an online application including business opportunity tracking, extensive notes and communications tracking, scheduling, and even mass communications and pre-scheduled drip campaigns. Linking Universe CS is a full-scale, online CRM application that we will begin to provide at a convenient monthly cost.

You can see our Linking Universe CS beta at the following link: http://linkinguniverse.com/premium

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We have posted a new Tour of Linking Universe that provides an informative overview of the sections, features, and uses of each business tool in the Facebook application.

You can access the tour by visiting: http://facebook.linkinguniverse.com/Tour.php

The tour is a self-guided slideshow with screenshots of each section and explanations for key fields and features.

The tour is also available from withing the Linking Universe application on Facebook; just click on ‘Tour’ in the upper right corner.

Please share this latest news with your friends.

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Linking Universe, our new business networking application, was launched today on the Facebook Platform. We are very excited to bring you this news, and anxious to get you an invitation.

The application is currently released as an ‘invitation only’ event. The invitation only status will be lifted soon. Until then, if you are interested, please complete our Contact Us form and let us know you would like an invitation and we’ll make sure you get one.

We are inviting people as fast as we can. We will begin with our close circle of business friends who have been watching the development, add the many of you who have requested to be included in the initial beta, and then begin to branch out to the masses.

Facebook recently constricted their invitation limits, which effectively halts our ability to invite more than just a handful each day. However, each of you who receive an invitation can also send to your groups of friends, so we anticipate the snowball will gather some volume in the days and weeks to come as more and more people receive invitations.

Please join us in celebrating our launch of a new, more mature Facebook application. As you know, we call it ‘Linking Universe’: Finally, a reason to use Facebook at work!

Don’t forget to request an invitation, and invite your business friends when you get on board.

Thank you for your support! We really appreciate the overwhelming positive comments we have received from those of you who have seen or heard of Linking Universe.

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Authors name Linking Universe among favorite business applications in new book titled “I’m On Facebook — Now What???”.

Linking Universe, Inc., announced today that the Linking Universe business application on the Facebook© platform was named among the favorite applications listed by authors Jason Alba and Jesse Stay in their new book titled “ I’m On Facebook — Now What???”.

In the new book the authors discuss Linking Universe, saying “Linking Universe is one of the coolest business applications we have seen on Facebook.” and explain that “Linking Universe is built around a method to define the quality, not just quantity, of your Facebook friends.”

The authors of I’m On Facebook — Now What??? further explain that Linking Universe provides an analysis of your friends and a helpful network score that shows “how substantive those friends are towards a business relationship.” They go on to describe several features of Linking Universe including the sales automation tools, saying the applications includes a “CRM tool that integrates with your Facebook friends and allows you to track your interactions with them and others.”

Linking Universe is an advanced Facebook application that includes tools that help you analyze your business network, communicate using business terms, and to track and share business opportunities with your network of friends and contacts.

The book is available on Amazon.com or at the publisher’s website, HappyAbout.info. For more information about the book visit http://www.FacebookAdvice.com.

Download the official press release, here: Linking Universe Praised In Book

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Linking Universe announces a new business application for the Facebook© platform that allows users to take advantage of professional connections

Application calculates the value of a business network and automates communications and
collaboration with professional contacts.

Salt Lake City, UT (January 22, 2008) Linking Universe announced today a business relationship management application for Facebook that uses network analytics to assess the business value of a social network. Linking Universe offers opportunity management capabilities that allow users to exchange business referrals, and track opportunities through a sales or hiring process. The Linking Universe solution is the first add-on applications for Facebook to combine social networking with the completion of business processes.

With the availability of this product, Linking Universe leads the way in transitioning Facebook, the leading social networking utility platform, into a platform for business productivity. “Up until now, Facebook business applications have been simple versions of standard software like messaging or word processing,” says Coleman Barney, Linking Universe President and CEO. “Our product is the first application that let’s business people actively use a social network to get work done.”

Linking Universe is scheduled to debut in beta by January 31, 2008. It will be available for general release by the end of February 2008. Users will need a Facebook account and can access the beta free of charge from the Facebook applications directory. Interested parties can sign-up to be included in the beta at www.linkinguniverse.com/contact-us.

“The Linking Universe solution was created based on the realization that as college and university students move into the work force they will expect to use social networking skills in their professional lives,” said Cary Snowden, Vice President of Products. “Integrating social networking with sales-force automation and CRM is a natural evolution.”

About Linking Universe
Linking Universe is the first business relationship management application that allows you to unlock the value of your professional social network. The solution allows users to set-up a professional network of social contacts, and then manage and improve the network through the automation of business processes such as sharing referrals, sales-force automation and hiring. In addition, the company offers powerful analytics that help users understand and improve the value of their network. For more detail, visit www.linkinguniverse.com.

Press Contact
Cary Snowden
VP, Product Management and Marketing
csnowden@linkinguniverse.com
801.938.3466

Download a PDF of this release here: Linking Universe Announces Facebook Application

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The New York Times today published an article by Brian Stelter that sheds some very interesting light on the popularity and growth of MySpace.

The article shares an interesting insider perspective, in particular on the business numbers surrounding the sale and revenue potential of MySpace, and had some interesting things to say about Facebook.

Of particular interest was the assertion that “MySpace has challenges, especially from Facebook, which has leapt ahead of MySpace in technology and has been accumulating users at a faster rate.” Stelter goes on to say that “Facebook,… is also seen by some advertisers as a better bet.”

The article positions Facebook as a cleaner environment with more mature users against MySpace’s seedy reputation and privacy baggage.

Take a look at the article here.

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I was just notified that Slide, a San Francisco-based Facebook application developer, has received $50 million in funding.

According to Reuters news service, Slide closed a round of institutional financing and will use the money to increase their staff and continue to build applications for both the Facebook platform as well as for MySpace.

This Reuters news brings yet more attention to the growing excitement around Facebook and the increasing valuation of companies focusing their attention on the Facebook platform.

Linking Universe, as you know, is one of these companies. We are edging closer to a public release of our Linking Universe professional business application for the Facebook Platform. As we get closer, we are keeping our ear to the tracks for exciting new stories such as this one about Slide. Our plans include a pursuit of funding immediately after our initial launch.

If you are interested in talking to us about funding, please contact us.

Read the Reuters article about Slide here: http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN1834455320080119

Congratulations to Slide from Linking Universe!

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Update: Jesse Stay’s book about Facebook is available for pre-order.

I’m On Facebook - Now What? is an essential resource for Facebook users who want to experience the full potential of social networking, and get the most out of the opportunities most of us never knew were there. From getting started to gathering friends to building business, this book gives you the whole picture in a concise and interesting read.

I’m On Facebook - Now What? is available for pre-order by clicking here.

Jesse Stay and Jason Alba (co-authors) mention Linking Universe in the book as one of their favorite applications for business users in Facebook.

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