Social Networks Not Ready for Business?

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Social networks like Facebook and MySpace have become enormously popular among consumers. But are businesses really prepared to embrace them?

Many businesses aren’t ready to throw open their networks to Web 2.0 traffic unless it meets certain thresholds.

There must be a clear business value and assurances that services don’t pose a security threat.

“I would argue that right now, with the economy where it is, there has to be a clear and compelling case for social networking in your organization,” Nucleus Research analyst Rebecca Wettemann told InternetNews.com.

“Otherwise, it’s not going to get approval. Certainly the CFO isn’t going to sign off on something that looks like ‘that Facebook thing my kids are on.'”

Wetteman groups social networking with other collaboration tools that have to prove their value before being adopted. “It’s not a field of dreams, there has to be a reason for people to use it,” she said.

“A sales team that can get more details about an account or better ideas on how to sell a client; there’s real value there. The other issue is participation. If one person is doing most of the contributions to the Wiki, that’s not going to cut it.”

Upstart company Central Desktop would like to get businesses on board. It has a set of collaborative Web 2.0 tools for small groups and organizations it thinks is just the ticket for companies that can’t afford higher priced offerings.

Designed as a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, Central Desktop recently introduced an enterprise edition that starts at $500 per month for up to 100 users internally.

The Wiki-based collaboration platform integrates real-time Web and audio conferencing tools. Central Desktop claims the Obama campaign used its product during the Democratic primaries.

Central Desktop CEO Isaac Garcia said he downplays the Wiki aspects in pitching the platform because less technical employees don’t get it. “We find a lot of users struggle with that concept, basically we’re offering a collaboration platform,” he said.

Garcia said the enterprise edition of Central Desktop offers an extra layer of security. “We can lock down at the IP level and restrict access to specific offices. And we give IT the flexibility to put in whatever password rules they want; if they want, for example, to have them expire and changed every 30 days or whenever. The IT folks like that.”

Intel’s CEO weighs in

Intel’s top executive isn’t quite sold that it’s time to jump in. Add Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) CEO Paul Otellini the list of business leaders skeptical about whether social networks are ready for prime time in the enterprise. This is not to see he doesn’t see a big upside to their eventual adoption.

“I see it as a big opportunity I don’t see any companies addressing,” Otellini said during a presentation at the Web 2.0 Summit earlier this month.

He said IT managers have to be sure the services have adequate security and manageability. There is “a lot of work to do getting Web 2.0 behind the firewall,” he said.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini speaks at the Web 2.0 Summit
Photo: James Duncan Davidson

That may come as news to companies like Socialtext and others, which have offered social networking tools for the enterprise for several years now. In fact, Intel is an investor in Socialtext and parts of the company use the product.

During his demo, Otellini showed a prototype social networking system that could help orient a new employee. The graphics-rich screen displayed a diagram of connections between the user — represented by their photo — to their colleagues photos and profiles. It also offered links for expertise relevant to her team.

“I would say Paul Otellini laid out a vision we’re close to delivering after six years of hard work,” Ross Mayfield, chairman and co-founder of Socialtext, told InternetNews.com.

This article was first published on InternetNews.com. To read the full article, click here.