Small businesses thrive on their ability to network and with the popularity of social networking sites, they are shifting that zeal to get-together online on specialized, business-focused communities. Forrester Research Inc. expects small businesses’ adoption of social networking technology to grow by 20% to 33% during the current year. Many entrepreneurs have begun to carve out small business communities on spaces originally designed for individual users, such as the online directories Myspace.com and Facebook. The free community, which will be supported by online advertising, is designed to help small businesses connect with each other through robust searching tools and to gain access to resources such as “ask the expert forums” through partnerships with media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
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