Ever since I became a regular Facebook user (about four years ago now), I have seen the potential for FB-like social networking tools to be used within corporate walls to connect knowledge workers.  One of my first blogs after we started Thought Ensemble was on this topic.

These tools seem particularly compelling for very large organizations that need to find ways for their workers to find and connect with each other across traditional boundaries.  And that’s what this ComputerWorld article points out – clearly companies are finally seeing that value proposition.

I’m wondering at what point critical mass is reached and a case is made to move conversations from email to a social networking tool… like say, Yammer.  We send a lot of topics around in email at Thought Ensemble when we want group feedback and I’m curious to see if I can get our crew to pilot Yammer or something similar.  Now that we are seven people, the email, while very helpful, is growing exponentially.  I  know people don’t want to use yet another tool, but email just isn’t feeling like the right solution for many to many communication anymore.  I’ll keep you posted.

On a separate note, I was amused that this article referenced the “Top 20 Social Networking Tools” and the date on the analysis was 2008.  Don’t you think the list might have changed a little since then?  Yes, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube made the cut but there were a few others notably missing.  But that’s another story.  My, how fast things change these days.