SITE: Lead411

URL: http://lead411.com

CATEGORY: Company Information/People Information

PURPOSE: Lead411 provides reference, contact, directory, and related information on businesses and executives around the U.S.

FEE/FREE: FREE and FEE-BASED (free trial available)

SOURCE CHECK: Lead411 was founded in 2001 and is based in California. Founder Tom Blue was previously president and founder of BlueChip Resources, a technical recruiting firm serving Silicon Valley and Southern California.

OUR VIEW: There are lots of business and people contact and directory sites on the web, but this is one of the more intriguing and useful ones we've come across in a while. As with most of these sites, sometimes you'll find good information while at other times data will be incorrect or not available. But we were impressed with what we could find, including information not typically available from other free-to-search directory sites such as average salary at company, email domains, key executives lists, titles, phone numbers, and—for paid subscribers—email addresses. You can do a free keyword search limited to people or companies or browse by major categories. Consider this site if you are trying to get information, particularly contact information for executives and companies in the U.S.

SITE: CoTweet

URL: http://cotweet.com

CATEGORY: Social Media

PURPOSE: CoTweet provides a platform for aggregating and filtering tweets by keyword. It offers features specifically geared for internal business use.

FEE/FREE: FREE and FEE-BASED

SOURCE CHECK: CoTweet was officially launched in January 2009. In late 2010, it was acquired by ExactTarget, an email marketing firm, with headquarters in San Francisco and offices around the world.

OUR VIEW: There are several sites that allow users to monitor tweets, but CoTweet is special because it is optimized for business use in the enterprise. You can use it for free and do some advanced tracking and sharing of results with colleagues, or sign up for the paid version and do much more tracking and interacting. In either case, based on a recent test we did in The Information Advisor comparing several leading Twitter tracking sites, this one was our favorite. Consider this site if you want to monitor tweets and share them with colleagues in your organization.

SITE: INFOdocket

URL: http://infodocket.com

CATEGORY: Reference/Link Site

PURPOSE: INFOdocket provides news, findings, data, and interesting new sites related to the information industry.

FEE/FREE: FREE

SOURCE CHECK: INFOdocket is a creation of Gary Price and Shirl Kennedy, two well-known and respected writers and analysts in the library and information fields.

OUR VIEW: If you want to keep up with what's important, valuable, and newsworthy in the information world, this is the place to turn. Not only are Price and Kennedy two of the savviest people in the field, the site is set up for easy browsing by detailed subject category, by advanced keyword searching, and even for automatic RSS feeds. There's a lot of valuable information surfaced here for business researchers and others who perform professional research or need to keep up with the information field. Consider this site if you want to keep up with an expert's filtering and commentary on news and trends in the information field.

SITE: Deloitte Technology Fast 500

URLs: http://tinyurl.com/25ncfhf (North America)
http://tinyurl.com/ckl6q9a (Asia Pacific)
www.deloitte.co.uk/fast500emea/fast-500-winners/winners-2011 (EMEA)

CATEGORY: Company Information

PURPOSE: These are lists and descriptive information on the 500 fastest growing technology firms in three major regions around the world: North America, Asia Pacific, and the EMEA countries (Europe, Middle East, and Africa). Firms are ranked based on each one's percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2006 to 2010.

FEE/FREE: FREE

SOURCE CHECK: Per its website, "'Deloitte' is the brand under which tens of thousands of dedicated professionals in independent firms throughout the world collaborate to provide audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, and tax services to selected clients. These firms are members of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), a UK private company limited by guarantee. Each member firm provides services in a particular geographic area and is subject to the laws and professional regulations of the particular country or countries in which it operates.”

OUR VIEW: These lists represent timely, authoritative, and global rankings of technology firms from a very reputable source. There's no charge to view the listing, and the list displays the ranking and rate of growth. It also provides a link to the firm's website. Additional information on the site provides context to the development and application of the ranking and other helpful information. Consider this site if you need to know the fastest growing tech firms around the globe.

SITE: Responsible Shopper

URL: www.greenamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/index.cfm

CATEGORY: Company Information

PURPOSE: This searchable database of profiles of major companies in key industries provides data, news, and commentary on the firm's record on social issues ranging from labor to health, worker safety, environmental matters, and more.

FEE/FREE: FREE

SOURCE CHECK: Responsible Shopper is a creation of Green America, a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1982 and based in Washington, D.C.

OUR VIEW: While the number of companies covered by this site are limited to the largest and most high-profile firms, and some of the data was not as convincing or as well organized as we would have liked, we think this is an interesting alternative site for finding facts about companies, as it surfaces information that relates to a firm's position and activities on a range of social issues. There is some basic company profile data on the firms listed, recent news related to the firms, and social issues and some editorial commentary (almost always negative) about the firms' stand and actions on social issues. You can browse by industry or do a keyword search. Consider this site if you want to find information on a company's record, perception, or evaluation on social issues.