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8.3 Enterprise Social Networks 241

Example 3: Yammer—A Collaboration Platform
1. Quick access to knowledge, knowhow, and “know- Yammer, Inc. (yammer.com), is a Microsoft company.
who.” As people list their skills, expertise, and expe- According to its website, Yammer is a private social network
rience, enterprise social networks can help simplify that helps employees collaborate across departments, loca-
the job of locating people with specified knowledge tions, and business apps in over 500,000 companies (in 2016).
and skills. Yammer brings together people for conversations, content,
2. Expansion of social connections and broadening and business data in a single location. With Yammer, you can
of affiliations. Enterprise social networks help man- easily stay connected to coworkers and information, collabo-
agers and professionals to know people better by rate with team members and make an impact at work. It is
interacting with them in online communities, and by used for communication and collaboration within organiza-
keeping up with their personal information. Such tions, or between organizational members and predesignated
interaction and information about others can decrease groups.
the social distance in a company.
3. Self-branding. People can become creative in build- Key Features
ing their profiles the way they want to be known. It Yammer’s social networks allow users to (compiled from
helps them promote their personal brand within the products.office.com/en-US/yammer/yammer-features):
corporation.
4. Referrals, testimonials, and benchmarking. Enter- • Converse using enterprise microblogging. Start a con-
prise social networks can help employees prepare versation, read posts, and actively collaborate with cowork-
and display referrals and testimonials about their work ers in real time using microblogging.
and also benchmark them with their colleagues. • Create profiles. Report your expertise, work experience,
and contact information. You can upload photos, images,
and documents. This will help you share information with
others, and become easier to find.
Benefits to Organizations • Manage groups. Create new groups or join private or
public groups, and then discuss issues or collaborate with
The benefits to organizations, as well as to employees, were the group members. (Discover and join groups, invite
presented in Section 8.1. In addition, the benefits to employ- team members to join and start collaborating.)
ees can develop into benefits to organizations in the long run. • Conduct secure and private messaging. Create a private
dialog with one or multiple coworkers, similar to what you
can do on Facebook. Secure the messages with Yammer’s
Support Services for Enterprise Social security features.
Networks • Create external networks. Create external networks for
working with business partners.
Businesses can use a variety of services and vendors to sup- • Create a company directory. Create a directory of all
port their social networking. Two examples follow. employees.
• Archive knowledge. Archive all online conversations to
Example 1: Socialcast be fully searchable.
Socialcast (socialcast.com), a VMware company, is an online • Use administrative tools. Keep the Yammer network run-
vendor providing social network platforms that enterprises ning smoothly with a suite of features built to increase man-
can deploy to let employees create their profiles and use them agerial control.
to facilitate collaboration and communication with coworkers. • Employ tagging. Tag the content and message in the
In 2016, the company had tens of thousands of customers in company’s network to make content easy to search for
190 countries. The platform connects people to knowledge, and to organize.
ideas, and resources. For details, see socialcast.com/about. • Integrate applications. Install third-party applications
into Yammer to increase the functionality of the compa-
Example 2: Socialtext ny’s network.
Socialtext (socialtext.com) is a vendor of enterprise social • Deploy mobile capabilities. Connect to the company’s net-
software, providing an integrated suite of Web-based applica- work from anywhere, at any time. Download free iPhone,
tions including social media tools and platforms. The company Blackberry, Android, and Windows Mobile applications.
also provides Web security services. Businesses can benefit by
keeping employees connected to the enterprise strategy and Note that in 2016 Microsoft changed Yammer, for details see
operations. For details, see socialtext.com/about. Buckley (2015).