“Facebook for Engineers” Provides an Online Forum for Techies

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers has created a new social media platform where its members can engage, network, share knowledge and collaborate with other “mech-heads”around the world.

Call it “Facebook for Engineers”.

Just like Facebook, ASME’s new website allows users to create personal profiles, share links, post photos and schematical drawings, and comment on the posts of others. Information in the personal profile can even be imported from an existing profile on LinkedIn, a popular social networking site focused on business.

Thomas G. Loughlin, ASME’s executive director, said it was time to give mechanical engineers their own social networking platform where they can go an let it all hang out without being self-conscious about themselves or being mistaken for a character on “The Big Bang Theory”.

“ASME is proud to offer the global engineering community this unique experience,” Loughlin told Materials Handling Network. “We’re introducing an array of social networking features with an in-depth focus on facilitating dialogue across a broad range of topics that are of critical importance to anyone with an interest in engineering. They will transform the way engineers engage with one another and are a testament to the power of collaboration. Indeed, engineers are inventing the future.”

Or, as Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper would say, “Bazzinga!”

The website includes a dashboard to manage personal accounts, send messages, and share links and comments. But it also is a place where users can stay up to date on conferences, events, scholarly articles and publications based on their own particular interests.