"Facebook For The Enterprise": Catchy PhraseOr A Strategy For Collaboration?

Can "Facebook for the Enterprise" solve real business problems inside a company? Maybe, but not with a naïve strategy based on a network of professional "friends." Still, Forrester has unearthed a handful of innovative companies building corporate social networks that drive business benefit. Collectively, their strategies go deeper than a simple social network; the strategy includes harnessing the network to optimize workforce utilization, develop professional staff, retain talent, and locate expertise. To even start applying the concepts being developed at social networks like Facebook, information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals must start a conversation with their strategic human resources (HR) and finance counterparts about how this collaboration technology can help solve some age-old business issues.