In my last post I wrote about a couple of social media tools that companies are using today to help make collaboration in the workplace easier. This post will focus on Socialtext, a company that uses these social networking and wiki technologies to help organizations collaborate more effectively.
Socialtext was founded in Palo Alto, CA with the vision of creating a new social context that offers far better social dynamics for the people working within organizations. The company’s most highly regarded product is Socialtext Workspace, which was the first enterprise wiki. This product not only fights against information overload for their customers, but also gives each company a solid foundation to expand their vision for a social software platform.
Tied in closely with the wiki was the ability for users to hold conversations through a unique blogging capability. This function was designed specifically for collaboration within the organization. Each user is given the ability to set their personal filters to match their individual interests and priorities. This is also available for teams to use so customers can prioritize at both the individual and group level without being inundated with information that they do not need or want.
Along with Socialtext Workspace is Socialtext Unplugged, a tool that allows users of the wiki to access the information on the wiki when they are offline. Below is a short video describing this cutting-edge tool in an interesting way.
The company recently completed its creation of a social messaging application that they believe will bring a new “awareness dimension” into the enterprise. This application is similar to Twitter, which I mentioned in a previous post, but provides additional benefits because the messaging takes place in the framework of people inside a company working transparently and collaborating on common goals.
On their website, company executives state that their focus is to meet business objectives through an increase of the dissemination of knowledge while increasing the feeling of unity throughout your company. The fact that over 5,000 companies use Socialtext today illustrates the idea that they have been able to efficiently accomplish these goals for the numerous companies that use their products. To read more about how Socialtext is influencing businesses, check out this article by William-Arthur Haynes.
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