Independent Research Firm Names IT Central Station as One of the Top Three Highlights for B2B Tech Social Marketing

Caps banner year of achievements for product review site that has been called “The Yelp of Enterprise Tech.” New York, NY, January 2, 2013 – IT Central Station, the leading product review site and social network for enterprise technology professionals, today announced that it has been recognized by Forrester Research as one of the top three highlights for B2B tech social marketing in 2012. IT Central Station is disrupting the B2B tech buying process through the power of crowdsourcing, online reviews and professional social networking. Kim Celestre, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, published the top twelve B2B tech social marketing highlights of 2012 which includes leading players in the business-to-business social media market including LinkedIn, Google, Salesforce.com, Marketo, Eloqua, and Buddy Media. The post also recognizes innovative social marketing programs run by technology vendors including Oracle and SAP. The launch of IT Central Station was the #3 highlight of the year under the heading “Professional social networks got B2B marketers’ attention.” The full highlights are available for free at: http://blogs.forrester.com/kim_celestre/12-12-21-top_twelve_b2b_tech_social_marketing_highlights_of_2012 “2012 was a remarkable year for B2B social marketing as seen by the acceleration of B2B social media adoption, rapid consolidation of the social media platform market and the evolution of digital and social marketing,” said Kim Celestre, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research. “We saw significant growth in existing professional social networks and the introduction of some new ones. For example, IT Central Station, the ‘Yelp For The Enterprise’ was launched in the fall to provide CIO’s with a place to read and contribute reviews on technology solutions.” This recognition caps an incredible year for IT Central Station that includes:

• Coverage of IT Central Station’s launch by the Wall Street Journal.
• Accelerated adoption by enterprise users, who contributed reviews of products from Oracle, IBM, SAP, HP, Cisco, VMware, Red Hat, Salesforce.com, and other large and small vendors.
• Roll out of new social features including deep LinkedIn integration, private messaging, and product follows.
• Launch of CIO Advisory Board that includes four CIOs from billion-dollar market cap public US companies.
• Unveiling of IT Central Station’s PeerPanel™ online event series in which real users share their tips and experiences without vendor bias.
“We are honored to be recognized by Forrester Research as one of the highlights for 2012,” said Russell Rothstein, Co-Founder and CEO of IT Central Station. “I fully agree with Kim’s analysis that ‘professional social networks have great influence on technology decision-makers, who tap into the expertise and feedback from peers.’ The past year was an exciting one for us, and 2013 looks even better.” About IT Central Station | www.itcentralstation.com IT Central Station is revolutionizing the enterprise technology buying process through the power of crowdsourced knowledge, online product reviews and social networking. Enterprise technology professionals use IT Central Station to access and share unbiased product information and tap into a community of other real users in order to make the best buying decision in the $3 trillion market worldwide for enterprise IT products and services.