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.

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Tags: social networking, technology, digital media, innovation

Categories: News

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Tags: social networking, linkedin, workplace

Categories: News

Melbourne, FL (PRWEB) -- Social networking in the workplace is a major dilemma for today's businesses. The question is: "Does it help or hurt the organization?"

Although the general issue is always the same, the specific challenges vary. They range from productivity losses, to legal risks, to bandwidth drains and security problems. And even more specifically, these challenges are associated with various types of sites that employees often visit for personal reasons. A few years ago, pornography sites presented the greatest challenge, while today social networking sites seem to be 'number one' with Facebook being the most popular.

A survey conducted by Nucleus Research showed that 77 percent of workers who have a Facebook account use it during work hours. Of those who use Facebook at work, 87% said they could not define a clear business reason for accessing the site, and some reported using it as much as two hours per day.

Wavecrest Computing has been helping businesses and other organizations deal with Internet usage issues for more than twelve years. In general, these entities all face the same challenge, i.e., how can the organization maximize the benefits of social networking access while minimizing the risks of personal surfing at work?

Wavecrest Computing discusses these issues in their white paper "Social Networking or Social Not-Working?" They address the question "To what extent, if any, should workers be permitted to engage in social networking 'on the job,' and why?" and offer recommendations, such as a "well-designed Web-use policy."  

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Tags: social networking, workplace, productivity, security

Categories: News | Research

(From The Wall Street Journal) Because so many people in their teens and early 20s are in this constant whir of socializing—accessible to each other every minute of the day via cellphone, instant messaging and social-networking Web sites—there are a host of new questions that need to be addressed in schools, in the workplace and at home. Chief among them: How much work can "hyper-socializing" students or employees really accomplish if they are holding multiple conversations with friends via text-messaging, or are obsessively checking Facebook?

Some argue they can accomplish a great deal: This generation has a gift for multitasking, and because they've integrated technology into their lives, their ability to remain connected to each other will serve them and their employers well. Others contend that these hyper-socializers are serial time-wasters, that the bonds between them are shallow, and that their face-to-face interpersonal skills are poor.

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Tags: generational issues, workplace, gen y, web 2.0, social networking

Categories: News

(From the Daily Mail) A number of major firms have banned employees from accessing Twitter, after it emerged that time wasted on social networking websites was costing businesses £1.38billion each year.

A survey published today found that 57 per cent of workers use sites such as Facebook and Twitter during office hours, spending an average of 40 minutes a week posting messages and sending 'tweets'.

The social networking sites have already been banned by many large firms and some City banks.

Tags: uk, social networking, web 2.0

Categories: International | News

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.

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

Categories: News

Below is a video blog while I'm traveling in Ireland. I will also be traveling to England and the Netherlands, so please feel free to contact me if you wish to schedule a meeting. The video blog discusses an interesting article about Facebook usage. We welcome you to visit ASTD's group and International page on Facebook and I look forward to hearing your insight and comments about social networking use in your country.

Tags: ireland, facebook, training, social networking

Categories: International

Dallas, TX -- A recent study of U.S. business leaders commissioned by Regus, the global provider of innovative workspace solutions, found that more than eight out of 10 business leaders see significant change occurring in their workplaces, but only six out of 10 claim to have successfully changed in the past, a gap that has nearly tripled since 2006.

"Today's workforce thinks beyond the four walls of an office, but today's business leaders continue to restrict their thinking to these traditional office environments," said Guillermo Rotman, CEO of the Regus Group Americas. "Our study found that organizations with trust-based workplaces -- those that grant their employees a level of independence over when and where they work -- are financially out-performing their competitors."

Another common characteristic identified among over-performing companies is a socially networked workplace, where business leaders actively encourage employees to engage and collaborate with like-minded people beyond the traditional workplace boundaries.

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Tags: social networking, research, workplace, innovation

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.

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

Categories: News