The corporate world is starting to see enterprise social computing as a valuable tool.
In everyday life they can be fun ways to keep up with friends, families, and birthdays.
However, in the business sector, they are being used to stay in contact with colleagues and team members in increasing frequency.
Activity streams, microblogging, shared collaboration tools, and rich clients technologies are making it possible for co-workers to stay connected and share real time information needed to perform their tasks.
Activity streams can give team members a way to subscribe to information provided by other team members or other groups that are critical to their performance.
An example would be if an outside group published specifications crucial to the project you are currently working on.
If you subscribe to their group then you will know when they make the status update with the link attached that points to their technical specifications that you can then go out and access.
The ability to be able to tap into enterprise social computing information is a huge benefit.
Microblogging is another tool that has been used for purely social purposes until recently.
Microblogging gives team members a way to post critical information and for a group of subscribers to be able to quickly disseminate that information after they're notified of the new post.
Links, audio, and video can also be published in microblogs in order to make the experience richer and more interactive.
If the reader finds the shared information useful, they can "tag" or "like" the post and share the information with the people listed on their "followers" or "friends list.
" This allows those people to then have access to the information.
This is almost a viral way of floating information to your enterprise social computing community.
Rich client software is also another social tool that most people already have on their smart phones or netbooks.
Apps or widgets written for smart phones or network enabled computers give traveling team members the ability to stay connected even when they aren't in the office.
They can be just as efficient and productive as office employees, because they have access to the same real-time enterprise social computing technologies.
They can update their team members back at the office on their current whereabouts, achievements, or results of meetings or sales calls.
Providing your employees both in the office and out the option of using these rich tools from anywhere, you are enabling them a way to be a cohesive information network.
This will keep your organization running smoothly.
Enterprise social computing technologies are normally incorporated directly into your existing technologies in such a way that they enhance the resources that you already possess.
They make email more useful and provide information in other ways that are simply not possible with other forms of communication.
Activity streams provide a news service that interested parties can subscribe to.
Microblogging can be an excellent tool for collaborating within a group.
Rich client software provides team members with multiple means of communication while they are in the office and on the road.
What started out as a social phenomenon has now spilled over into the corporate world and will eventually change the way we communicate forever.