Every age has its scientific breakthroughs and new technologies that surprise the world – but the true pioneers who make an impact are the people who take the discoveries and put them to lasting practical use.
FedEE’s new head office is in the thriving English city of Bristol where there remains much evidence of the achievements of that great nineteenth century Engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Most magnificent of these is the first suspension bridge in the world – which still spans the Clifton Gorge today.
Man had been building bridges for thousands of years before Brunel built his famous bridge. But they could not span huge gaps in solid earth – and they were also both rigid and very heavy. Brunel found a different and better way to build bridges.
The Internet and Social Networking have been with us for many years too. Initially downloading speeds were slow and only gradually did broadband allow new features to be added to enhance the online world. But real human beings continue to live in the real world – so the true value of the Internet is spanning the gap between people far apart from each other. Just like Brunel’s bridge, allowing people to meet the people on the other side of the bridge.
But who, would like to inhabit a bridge? Well, that is precisely what Facebook, Twitter, We Chat and LinkedIn are asking us to do. To stand in unreal world like a windy bridge rather than use it to directly enhance our lives by crossing to the other side,
It is because of this incongruity that last year we began work on FedEE’s own business networking site – butN (www.but-n.com) . Helping you make new face-to-face business contacts on the other side of the world huge divides is what butN does well. It is all about meeting people you would otherwise probably never meet. Using the Internet to forge new, useful connections on a global scale. It uses technology to achieve this whilst leaving you, the user, in control. The reason people do not get blown off the Clifton Suspension bridge because it has strong railings. It is the same with butN. It is a powerful tool for getting connected, but user privacy is ensured. There are all kinds of ways we use to prevent possible dangers when you getting connected.
Like Brunel’s bridge it is completely free to use. Just drive on and drive off. You can even use your current LinkedIn profile to speed up the signing-up process. And you do not need to be a business traveller to benefit from butN, as it allows you to link up with people in your vicinity – including those travelling through.
And there is one final link across the ages too – Brunel’s bridge belongs to the people. It is not in private hands. Because butN has required private investment – lots of it – we cannot give butN away. But the difference between butN and other networks is that you, the user, can benefit directly in the future from butN financially.
Every signed-up butN member who successfully introduces ten members and also creates at least ten reciprocal links with other members will automatically qualify for one unit in the butN “Windfall Fund” and also an opportunity to join the butN Council – which advises us on the way we develop. When butN is eventually taken over – or launched on the stock market – in a few years time all the people who own units will share at least 15% of the windfall between them. Users will soon be able to buy more units in the Fund through “Kickstarter” (https://www.kickstarter.com) and once butN has over 100,000 members the windfall fund will grow to 20% – and then upwards as it grows in poularity. There are over 30 million potential users of butN – so please step onto the bridge and sample the rich world of real global connectivity.