Taking a closer look at women’s networking

Women who network. While working on a recent column about female entrepreneurs, I compiled a list of five of the local networking organizations for women that had been mentioned most often by people I interviewed. Then I asked blog readers to add others that they had found helpful. More than 30 people helped compile a rather extensive list.

■ Boston Women’s Network. Regular monthly meetings with speakers, focused on helping members achieve their personal and professional goals.

■ Center for Women & Enterprise. Helps women start and grow businesses, with courses on QuickBooks, obtaining bank financing, and selecting a legal entity for the business. Serves Boston, Providence, and Worcester.

■ Commonwealth Institute. Career development and support for female chief executives and other executives. Upcoming events include a session with Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Harvard Business School and the annual “Top 100 Women-Led Businesses’’ reception.

■Golden Seeds Boston. A group of female “angel’’ investors takes pitches and consider funding start-ups and also encourage women to become investors themselves. “Angel Investing 101’’ course coming up on Nov. 10.

■ Ladies Who Launch Boston. Creates groups of 10 women “who each help one another take their projects, businesses, or ideas to a new place.’’ Also, regular networking events. Another chapter serves Worcester.

From the comments:

Jill: I’ve also found the Center for Women’s Leadership at Babson to be a phenomenal resource for female entrepreneurs. Their resources and willingness to help me tap into networks, like Ernst & Young’s Winning Women program, have had a sizable impact on my business. For more info, visit their website at www3.babson.edu/cwl.

Susan: Women’s Business Network of Southeastern Massachusetts. The purpose of WBN is to offer networking opportunities and inspire, educate, and motivate women to be the best they can be in their business and personal lives: www.wbnsema.org.

Darlene: The Downtown Women’s Club ought to be mentioned. It is one of the few networking organizations to combine both online and in-person networking. It has chapters in and around Boston, as well as other cities. The group provides networking resources, such as e-books to help members “network with confidence’’ as well as “fun’’ in-person meetings. The meetings are an easy, stress-free way for women to interact, meet, and collaborate with other members in a comfortable environment.

Pearl: WEST, Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology, does some great programs and is a network of women in science and technology that support each other. Dr. Gwen Acton runs the group. www.westorg.org.

Facebook, the movie. I caught up with Back Bay author Ben Mezrich last week for a quick chat via phone.

The forthcoming movie based on his book “Accidental Billionaires,’’ about the founding of Facebook, starts shooting in Boston today. On Saturday, he’s one of the speakers at the inaugural Boston Book Festival. (Requisite disclosure: the Globe is one of several media sponsors for the festival.)

Scott Kirsner: So the movie starts shooting soon. Why did they decide to call it “The Social Network,’’ which is kind of a generic title, rather than “Accidental Billionaires’’? And how are you involved with the film?

Ben Mezrich: “The Social Network’’ is a working title. I obviously like “The Accidental Billionaires,’’ and the paperback version will be coming out in May, which will reach large numbers of people, so using that title is a possibility that would certainly make sense.

[“West Wing’’ creator] Aaron Sorkin signed on to adapt the book into a screenplay while I was writing it. It was a cool situation. I would hand him chapters as I was finishing them. David Fincher is directing it. It’s their baby now. I probably will visit the set. With “21’’ [a movie based on an earlier Mezrich book, “Bringing Down the House’’], I was on set for the whole thing.

SK: What first got you interested in the story of Facebook?

BM: I used Facebook a little, and my wife was obsessed with it. One day I got an e-mail from a kid named Will. He was best friends with [Facebook cofounder] Eduardo [Saverin.] I went to have a drink with them at Bar10 in the Westin hotel. They told me this incredible story that no one knew about the earliest days of Facebook, about sex in the bathroom and the Winkelvoss twins. There were all these great characters. I’d gone to Harvard, and I wanted to write a story that took place in the dorms.

SK: A lot of people in the technology scene here wonder whether Facebook could have stuck around in Boston, or whether Mark [Zuckerberg] was determined to do it out in Silicon Valley. What’s your take?

BM: Mark didn’t intend to stay in California. He just wanted to spend the summer there because he had always dreamed of being in Silicon Valley.

It was never a decision to leave Boston. But once Sean Parker got involved, and once they started raising money out there, there was no turning back.

It wasn’t his intention to build a company in California, though.