Member Avatar for MktgRob

Has anyone heard of or used Xing, PartnerUp, Biznik, or Spoke? I was just reading a post about them on Linkedin and it was pretty vague. I guess they are alternatives to and similar to Linkedin.

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Dani AI

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Good question, . Building on : LinkedIn is still the default for B2B, but there are credible alternatives depending on region, industry, and use case. Quick status update on what you mentioned: Biznik, PartnerUp, and Spoke have since been discontinued or faded from mainstream use. XING, however, remains active and is most useful if you sell into the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) where it still has strong adoption XING. On your Windows Live hunch: Microsoft ultimately retired those social features and later bought LinkedIn, which is why you now see deep Microsoft 365 integration rather than a separate Windows Live network .

If you want B2B networking beyond LinkedIn today, think in niches:

  • Regional networks: XING for DACH.
  • SMB/local: Alignable for partnerships and referrals.
  • Function-specific communities: Spiceworks (IT), Stack Overflow/GitHub (engineering), Indie Hackers/Product Hunt (founders), Dribbble/Behance (design). These are not resume networks, but they are great for relationship-building and deal discovery when you contribute consistently.

A simple workflow that works:

  1. Pick 2-3 communities where your ICP hangs out and complete a clear, benefit-led profile.
  2. Post helpful answers weekly; share playbooks, benchmarks, or teardown-style feedback. No pitches.
  3. When a thread shows buying intent, move to DM and then to email/Zoom.
  4. Track outreach in your CRM and use UTM parameters on any shared links to see which communities drive pipeline.

Practical tip: in niche communities, social proof beats cold outreach. Lead with specific outcomes (e.g., "cut onboarding time 37%") and short how-we-did-it summaries. Respect each community’s rules, and you will get introductions without asking.

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Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

I have checked out Spoke before and you have to claim your identity there. I personally think that LinkedIn is the gold standard for online professional networking and the others may work for certain niches.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

I was recently invited to join a Windows Live network by a business contact. I wonder if this is an attempt by Microsoft to build their own Linkedin-type community.

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