IBM warms to social networking

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IBM is using its Community Tools software internally, which allows a person to submit a query to a community of users. People can respond to the notification and respond over an instant messaging service. If more than 10 people respond to a query, then a community chat site will automatically start up.

IBM has found that a small percentage of people respond to these queries. But even a few connections allow people to discover each other and their common interests, Rhodin said.

"We think that's a pretty powerful concept--you've just gotten 10 experts together, that may not have known each other, to collaborate on a business problem. That's a powerful tool," he said.

Traditional content management and collaboration applications usually focus on the creation of a document or presentation, Rhodin said, whereas many technologies and practices associated with social-networking sites focus on people and connections between people.

In addition to these social-networking features, IBM will be building in more support for the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and Atom syndication protocols.

Sametime instant messaging can already read RSS feeds. And IBM is looking to use Atom and scripting languages in Domino Designer, a tool for writing Notes-based applications, Rhodin said.

Mining connections
Burton Group's Hobert said that content management software from different providers is starting to gain tools that allow people to collaborate and communicate without having to quit one application and start another.

A person using instant messaging could, for example, pull up another person's contact information from a corporate directory or sales information from enterprise applications.

Having software to view the connections among different people in an organization can be valuable as well, she said.

"I know this user is working with these users on these topics. So if can't get a hold of one, then maybe the others can assist me," Hobert said. "The tools are exposing information so users can make inferences."

IBM intends to build its social-networking features onto its server software and make those features available from Sametime, Notes or a Web browser.

Sametime and the upcoming version of Notes, code-named Hannover, which will go into beta in the fourth quarter, both run on the Eclipse Rich Client Platform, which allows IBM and third parties to build add-on programs for voice, video or other services.

To make them suitable for corporate customers, IBM will add features to audit or retain information from online discussions, Rhodin said.

"Ad-hoc, interpersonal processes are a great opportunity to eke out more productivity," said Rhodin. "A lot of these concepts have been around for a while, but the user inferfaces have become more approachable."

[Captain_Spock]

>>>"In some regards, IBM's embrace....

... of social networking represents another pass at "knowledge management," which promised to make businesses more productive by allowing workers to connect with subject experts or find relevant information.

Those efforts, however, failed to deliver on the goals because they were too structured and mandated, Rhodin said.

"The reason knowledge management failed is quite simple: Knowledge inherently resides in minds. Putting it into a system that can be managed is inherently flawed," he said."<<<; all in all, by taking another pass at "knowledge management,"... this just goes to prove that - "societies" may come and go; but, "IDEAS" never die.

[rcpinheiro]

Corporate Web 2.0 apps will be huge

Check this company that will do web 2.0 apps for corporate intranets:
http://www.internet20.org/entry/myspeexcom-sees-big-future-in-corporate-social-networking-to-develop-solutions/