Social Networking in the Workplace

  • Steven Taylor, Lead Analyst
  • Webtorials Analyst Division

Last fall we did some background research on the impact of Social Networks in the workplace.

In particular, we wanted to start looking at how well corporate networks were equipped for the current and quickly escalating use of Social Networks, and, in particular:
  • Which social networks are used for what?
  • Are corporate networks ready for support from a technical perspective?
  • Are corporate networks ready for support from a policy perspective?
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4 Comments

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Steven Taylor | May 17, 2010 11:57 AM | Reply

When we started this study, we knew intuitively that social networks were going to have a major impact. But even so, we still probably vastly underestimated how profound this impact would be.

One of the major areas that we're now finding to need major-league integration is the contact center and social networks. Watch for an upcoming study in which we'll be exploring these next-generation capabilities.

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Bob Giramma, Qualcomm | May 17, 2010 2:50 PM | Reply

I was hoping for some info on enterprise social networking tools. Jive seems nice. Are there others?

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Steven Taylor replied to comment from Bob Giramma, Qualcomm | May 17, 2010 3:38 PM | Reply

Thanks for the comment, Bob.  Indeed, the product from Jive appears to be well-suited for building either an intra-Enterprise social net or a customer-facing community.

Anybody aware of other similar products?  This does indeed seem to go beyond (because it serves a different purpose) the typical blog-based tools.

Of course, there are services (as opposed to products) such as those by Harris Connect that focus on special verticals - such as education.  However, imho, it's a tough call these days so far as using a specialized social network for a smaller organization (such as a college) as compared to simply creatign a community within a community using something like FaceBook.

So I guess I see a much brighter future for the intra-Enterprise application.  Not sure too many customers would join "yet another network."

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Phil Hippensteel | August 4, 2010 9:02 AM | Reply

There are literally dozens of products like Jive. Socialtext, Central Desktop, Novell Teaming and others. Of course, the gorilla is Sharepoint. I have used Central Desktop and like it.

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