I just added the Jobster facebook application and this great image had me laughing.
It shows how businesses are finding ways of providing value in facebook other than entertainment. However, then I noticed that they only had 110 active daily users! The reason = they don’t provide much of a reason to return to their application. Job alerts are emailed, and most of the links take you out of facebook. So I don’t really consider it a true facebook application.
The team of three, is now the team of four. I have just returned from 1 year of Maternity leave and have re-joined the Web2.0 gang in IBM Global Services Toronto. (We really do need to get an official title, but that is what I am calling us) I was extremely glad to hear that we had scooped up Sacha when she finished her studies. We all bring something different to the team and it has been a thrill watching the team work together (even though there was a little storming happening).
When I left the group in their capable hands I wondered how the Web2.0 world would change while I was away.
Things that have not changed:
- it is still called Web2.0
- it is still the people who are driving the change bottom-up
Things that have changed:
- many of our customers now “get it”
- social networks are for everyone, not just the geeks (although if I get an invite for one more network……)
- more people seem to understand the breadth of Web2.0 (and not just one facet e.g. RIA)
Instead of restricting access to Facebook, Serena Software is embracing it. How? And Why? From Bill Ives blog posting:
Serena is really replacing its existing intranet with Facebook as a front end linked to a low-cost content management system behind the firewall. Here are the reasons why and what they have seen so far. …the firm is just over 800 employees but is still globally based (operations in 18 countries) with 35% of their employees working virtually.
They are going through a major transition as they move from more traditional enterprise applications to web 2.0 mashups. The leadership wanted all employees to be better connected so they could be on the same level of understanding, excitement, and commitment to this transition.
They also thought that using a web 2.0 tool, like Facebook, represented the best way to take the whole company into this new space.
Like many companies their existing intranet was a poor platform for document finding, much less sharing….. I have also seen many unsuccessful intranets that cost large sums so I could certainly understand what René was talking about. One of major flaws of existing intranets, even when they work to find stuff, is the lack of social context. It is difficult to find anything about people. Serena wanted to promote a greater connection between people.
(The emphasis is mine.)
For more on this forward thinking approach, please see Bill Ives’s blog entry here: Portals and KM: Serena has Adopted Facebook as their Intranet