Wave Accounting's online network gets more social

The Toronto company's Pro Network has added a lot of features reminiscent of social networks.
7/31/2012 1:07:00 PM By: ITBusiness Staff

Toronto-based Wave Accounting is reshaping its online network of small business customers and accounting professionals to more closely resemble a social network.

The company offers free small business accounting software online. Now Wave, which has raised about $19-million in venture capital funding over the past year and a half, has added new tools to Wave Pro Network, its online community for small business accountants and bookkeepers.

The new added features include a searchable directory of accountants, bookkeepers, consultants and tax experts so Pro Network users can find a professional in their region when needed. Professionals who sign up to become ?pros' in the network get a profile page including their photo, logo, and a description of their services, all of which can be integrated with their existing social media accounts.

Also new is a forum where users and experts can post questions and answers, with the top contributions promoted actively within the network and?via email and social media.

Profiles? Photos? Social media integration? Sounds pretty social.

Like the rest of Wave's services, membership in the Pro Network is free for professionals who list their profiles, as well as for small business owners who use the network to hire accountants or ask a question.

Even though Wave now has customers in 200 countries, none of them pay to use its online accounting software. So how does Wave make money, aside from the $19 million it's already raised from VCs?

So far, through advertisements placed on its site by the likes of RBC, Dell, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, Symantec and American Express. Wave doesn't just make money from the ads posted on its site. It also generates revenue whenever Wave users sign up for offers posted on its site by those advertisers.

?When you're logged into your Wave account, you'll see special deals from a variety of advertisers,? the Wave folks state on their site. ?If you choose to take advantage of any of these opportunities, Wave gets paid by the supplier. Or to put it another way, you save money, we get paid, and Wave Accounting stays free.?

Source: http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=68423

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