Grounded In Reality

Over the last year, there’s been an explosion of corporate activity within social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut. Companies such as Sun Microsystems, Ernst & Young, Citigroup, and Ford Motor Company are leveraging social sites for recruitment, employee collaboration, customer relations, and localized promotions.

Many companies are also experimenting with social networking for internal communications. IBM’s “Fringe” network lets its employees connect and share information on a global level. Oracle’s internal social project called “Connect” has been a huge success since its launch last summer. Security and control are the main reasons companies opt for their own private networks. The idea of having proprietary information hosted on Facebook or another third-party community is still a risky proposition for many organizations.

But how can corporations – especially those with limited technical development capabilities – launch an internal social network with the power and simplicity of Facebook? Enter “WorkBook” – a secure, server-based software that combines all the capabilities of Facebook with all the controls of a corporate environment. Workbook let’s employees upload files, post comments, and create discussion groups with no danger of the information leaking outside the organization or access being granted to unauthorized personnel.

While it sounds slightly anti-Web 2.0 to build a locked-down environment, the fact is that security is a very real issue. Workbook just launched in December, so it will be interesting to see its evolution in 2008. My guess is that many organizations will consider moving to this type of service vs. depending on third-party sites for internal collaboration.