LinkedIn rival Viadeo pushes into Russia and integrates with business Q&A service Mancx

Viadeo, the professional social network which is particularly big in Europe, Asia and South America, has announced two new partnerships today.

Firstly, it is partnering with publisher Sanoma Independent Media to create a joint venture in Russia. The deal will see Viadeo leveraging the success of business site rb.ru to develop new online business services in the country. In addition, the Viadeo platform will be available in the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used in the country, from next year.

Viadeo, which suspended plans for an IPO earlier this year, will open a Russian office as part of the arrangement.

Meanwhile, a partnership with Swedish startup Mancx will allow its users to search for people who are well placed to provide expert answers to their questions. The integration means that business questions that already exist on Mancx will automatically be matched with relevant Viadeo members.

Mancx targets professionals by allowing payment and negotiation, and building in tax facilities. The integration follows the startup’s existing LinkedIn integration and its recently launched plugin that allows bloggers to charge for their expertise right from their own website.