the Web Chef's e-Bytes

Corporate Social Networks

In an interesting example of how online publications can mix and match their traditional print and text focused media strategy, CIO Insight has an insightful slide show on "5 Reasons to Deploy a Corporate Social Network".  The slide show succinctly lays out the reasons and the requirements for success in implementing a business social network.  The 5 reasons given and elaborated on are:

1. Build Better Customer Relationships
2. Improve Knowledge Management
3. Facilitate Recruiting and Retention
4. Increase Business Opportunities
5. Build Community

The requirements for success that they discuss all center around changes in the corporate culture.  Particulary they reference the following 3:

1. Can be time intensive
2. Will breakd down hierarchies
3. Challenge the formal organization chart

If you're interested in more about social networks see the two articles I've written for Wisconsin Technology Networks on this subject - "The Expanding World of Social Networks" and "Virtual Communities Make Online Connections".

Portals vs. Social Networking Sites

Steve Rubel of Micro Persuasion has a reference to a new study by Compete that looks at the status of Social Networking sites versus portals.  Their research indicates that the top 10 social networking sites (aggregated) are catching up to Yahoo! and Google.  Site visits to social networking reportedly have grown by over 109% since 2004.