Women creating their 'old boy's network' online

Guys built the old boy's network on golf courses and at all-night poker games.

Now, businesswomen can bond on an Internet site that offers discounted hair salons, chic jewelry, career services, teleseminars, and access to events tailored to their interests.

The site, DWFaces, is at downtownwomensclub.com. That's the online version of Downtown Women's Club, a national business group launched in Boston eight years ago by Diane Danielson, 39, of Cohasset.

Founded in April, DWFaces gets about 300,000 hits per month. The site is an online water cooler for businesswomen who want to connect and share ideas while promoting their firms. In addition to a jobs board, they can take technical classes or study subjects like getting the most out of the Web, using volunteerism to advance a career or business, and conducting public relations online.

Meeting online is no substitute for face-to-face contact, but tapping into an online social networking site for women strengthens existing connections and fosters communication, Danielson says. The key to DWFaces is its ability to cement online networking by encouraging participation in the club's events, which range from fashion shows to cocktail parties to shopping events and "meet and greets."

"Men tend to blend their networking activities with their lives on a more casual basis," Danielson says. "Women like to organize in advance, even to do the activities we like. Why is that? I'm not sure. But it seems that DWC gives them the opportunity to plan an organized event around activities they enjoy. DWFaces is an online tool that sparks in-person networking."

Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist at the Pew Internet & American Life Project, says LinkedIn is still the premier site for business people, but there's room for something new, especially for women.

"There are a lot of social networks right now, but not necessarily ones with this specific targeted group in mind," she says. "There are in-person women's groups that have list serves and websites. But this could be the next step - a social networking site for professional women that helps them use connections."

Danielson founded the Downtown Women's Club while working in the male-dominated commercial real estate industry. "The club was not a substitute for personal meetings, but it helped to know there were women to connect with," she says.

Since then, the club has grown from a handful of members to just under 10,000 in Boston, Worcester, New York, San Francisco, and six other cities.

Corporate sponsors include Osram Sylvania, Morrison Mahoney LLP, and Pink Magazine.

To join DWFaces, women pay $49, plus a renewal fee of $29 per year. Members post their profiles and personal photographs, along with links to their company websites. Photographs are accompanied by "e-pitches" that describe what the woman does, how she does it, and what value she brings to other members. The site allows women to search within their regions for other members, or for women who offer the same or complimentary services.

Kathy Robinson, 33, owner of TurningPoint, a coaching firm in Arlington, joined DWFaces because she wanted to find a business partner. The site linked her to career coach Annemarie Segaric, owner of Segaric Coaching in New York. "I now think of Annemarie as a potential partner," says Robinson. "The site allows you to home in on people who do exactly what you do within the geographical area you are in."

Maureen Crawford Hentz, manager of talent acquisition at Osram Sylvania, a global maker of lighting products, uses the site for online recruiting.

"In the age of online applications where people do not even get acknowledgements anymore, I wanted people to say, 'Oh, I can contact her,"' says Hentz. "So, by joining, I assure people that they can send a resume directly to me. And this is the way companies will be hiring, recruiting, and screening people for the next 25 years."

While the site is geared to every businesswoman, Daniels takes a particular interest in "millennials" - people born after 1982. She says she wanted to create a site with the "functionality" that millennials crave.

"I do a lot of research and writing on millennials, and they expect organizations to have functionality," she says. "They want to be engaged and if they are not, they find something else or create their own."

The site, which has been in testing mode since April, expects to add a corporate membership soon, Danielson says. The membership will allow companies to purchase a subscription and run a DWFaces site on their own corporate networks.

As with most other social networking sites, the theory behind DWFaces is that users are links in a chain, with only a few degrees of separation.

Danielson pitches the small-world aspect of the site, and the reliability of business owners who are vetted by other members.

"We have people who can say they have done business with a particular woman," she says. "Knowing that other women have used a member's service or consulted with her allows you to trust her judgment."

Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewisglobe.com.

c.2006 The Boston Globe