Salesforce.com built a billion-dollar company by allowing companies to ditch their CRM software and bringing CRM to the cloud. Now it has its sights set on perhaps an even bigger feat: bringing social media to the enterprise.

Yesterday, the company announced that it will be launching a new service called Salesforce Chatter in 2010. Think of it as Facebook for the enterprise: a social networking service for companies with an application platform to boot.

Enterprise social networking is one of those 'no-brainer' concepts, and for that reason Salesforce.com isn't the first company to try cracking the enterprise social networking nut.

It's a tough nut to crack, however. For obvious reasons, many businesses are tepid when it comes to anything involving the two words 'social networking'. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, et. al. may be employee favorites but most employees aren't using these popular social networks for work purposes when they log on at 10 am. Social networks have also created a number of risks for businesses, from the possibility that confidential information could be posted to the possibility that employee conduct could embarrass the company.

So while the application of social networking technology to the workplace seems like a no-brainer, consumer-facing social networks are often more likely to become a nuisance or threat to businesses than they are to serve as a viable hub for constructive employee interaction. That makes social networking in general a tough sell for many companies.

Read the full article.

Tags: social networking, technology, digital media, innovation

Categories: News

ASTD is at the forefront on a lot of issues and leads on a lot of trends - especially on the technology front. Under President and CEO Tony Bingham's leadership ASTD started a virtual conference initiative with this year's TechKnowledge conference. The virtual offering was a hit and led to an expanded virtual offering for the International Conference & Exposition held this spring in Washington, D.C. We put out a press release about the virtual conference which led to call from a reporter from Association Meetings during the conference. Lo and behold the publication found the idea of virtual conferences so intriguing they called back and wanted to know more about it since ASTD is definitely at the forefront in using this platform to meet member needs.  The result is this story "Six Elements of a Virtual Conference" which features Anthony Allen, ASTD's Director of Digital Media, very prominently. The very cool photo in the article is courtesy of our friends at The Photo Group.

Tags: astd, tony bingham, techknowledge, international conference and exposition, virtual conference, digital media, anthony allen

Categories: ASTD in the News | Conferences | TechKnowledge

Is your organization ready for new learning models? Learn more from companies that are already using social networking and other technologies to turn employees into independent, just-in-time, informal learners.

 

That and many other insights into new learning technologies will be the focus of the ASTD Benchmarking Forum’s Fall Conference on October 6, 7, and 8. This conference is co-sponsored by ASTD’s Benchmarking Forum and Learning Executives Network and hosted by Agilent Technologies and Intel.

 

It’s all virtual: All you need to attend this conference is a computer and an Internet connection. Take part in interactive sessions, share your experiences, ask questions of experts, and network with your peers.

 

To get more detailed information, click here or contact Ann Pace at apace@astd.org.

Tags: digital media, social networking, informal learning

Categories: News | Research

Business owners and others with an interest in digital and interactive marketing have two new opportunities for training.

Winston-Salem-based Wildfire Marketing is partnering with N.C. A&T State University to offer a Digital Marketing Boot Camp. The program is a "crash course" on marketing in various digital forms including Web sites, social networking and search engines, according to an announcement from the sponsoring Piedmont Triad Partnership.

Read the full article.

Tags: north carolina, training, digital media, social networking, informal learning

Categories: News

Twitter revolutionized small talk. Now it's rankling bigwigs.

Although the popular social networking site limits each post to 140 characters, there appears to be no limit to the anxiety it's causing major players in sports, media, business, the courts, the military and other fields.

Attempts to regulate Twitter's use at work, at school and on government time are soaring, and examples of Twitter jitters abound. Posts, called tweets, are resulting in fines, lawsuits, scolding and shame.

For reasons of message control, security concerns and competitive advantage, some employers are restricting Twitter use by training their employees or banning what they can say on such sites and when they can say it. Reaction to this spans from reluctant acceptance to open revolt; a tennis star called new tweeting regulations “lame” last month, and a Cincinnati Bengals football player closed his Twitter account Friday with a tweet saying the NFL's rules had taken the fun out of it.

Read the full article.

Tags: informal learning, digital media, twitter, social networking

Categories: News

People around the world interact with Alecia Dantico all day. Usually, though, they don't know whether she's young or old, male or female.

What her followers on Facebook and Twitter know is that's she's a friendly, sometimes sassy, blue and gold tin of Garrett Popcorn. That's the icon of the popular Chicago-based snack food that has tourists and locals lining up around the block at locations here and in New York City.

And when Dantico sends out a "virtual tin" of popcorn to a fan over Twitter, she's breaking new ground in the way companies market themselves, joining a growing number of social media experts hired to man Twitter, Facebook and similar sites.

"My day starts on Twitter and it doesn't really end," Dantico says. She keeps her BlackBerry on at all hours to respond to followers in different time zones. "It's driving my family crazy, but that's OK."

Multinational corporations, such as Ford Motor Co. and Coca-Cola Co., are beginning to use social media to increase positive sentiment, build customer rapport and correct misinformation, says Adam Brown, Coca-Cola's Atlanta-based director of social media.

Read the full article.

Tags: innovation, social networking, digital media, twitter

Categories: News