Facebook, but with a higher profile

Never heard of ASmallWorld.net? Ah, you must not be successful enough.

The by-invitation- only site, launched last year, is one of a new breed of exclusive social network sites for the rich. This is a jet-setter’s alternative to Facebook; the riffraff don’t get through the firewall and the virtual cocktail parties are oh-so pleasant.

Or so we hear.

A recent news story said ASmallWorld has 300,000 select members. The kind of people it draws means lots of high-end online advertising fills the edges of the computer screen. Those advertisers include Burberry, Cartier and Land Rover. Cognac maker Remy Martin in November threw a tasting party for the site’s elite members at which its top-shelf, $1,800-a-bottle liquor flowed freely.

If you can’t land an invitation, console yourself by getting a membership at Snooth.com, a hangout just for wine connoisseurs.

MFG.com

If you have heard of MFG.com, then you probably are a busy person working in a manufacturing company.

Not exactly a mainstream site, MFG has been called the eBay of the manufacturing sector. It’s a marketplace where people who have parts or raw materials offer them to possible buyers. It’s worth checking out, especially if you ever wondered what it would take to acquire 400 concrete bolts of unusual size for a home remodeling project.

Launched in Atlanta back in 2000, the site has become a global success story. This is one place loaded with the nuts and bolts – literally – that keep companies such as Black & Decker and Harley-Davidson running. Those firms, plus many others, typically turn to MFG to find suppliers of machined parts, plastic moldings, metal stampings and fabrications.

In addition to the parts requests filed there, the site has thousands of CAD (computer-aided design) diagrams and other specs that contract manufacturers can browse and consider.