Web 2.0 Goes Corporate

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Maybe it was seeing how easily their kids amassed hundreds of “friends” on MySpace. Or watching the blogs go all viral on bad news about their companies. Whatever the reason, managers discovered social-networking tools en masse this year. They range from MySpace-like professional networks for finding jobs or sales leads to network-mapping software that helps managers visualize who turns to whom for expertise. The range of applications is endless. Goldman Sachs uses a social-networking program called SelectMinds to track its alumni. Raytheon creates maps showing employees’ relationships to find its most connected people. And IBM has an internal network, called Dogear, of company Web pages or documents that other employees have bookmarked as beneficial. With growing interest in corporate social networking comes a horde of new products and services. Microsoft will be adding its own social network tool by next year, a feature called Knowledge Network that is part of its 2007 Office suite. Knowledge Network will collect data from e-mails and other Office documents to create a profile of a user’s expertise.

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