With Web 2.0, Companies Become More Sociable

Employers are thinking more about how to integrate Web 2.0 technologies and are taking steps to encourage participation, according to a survey conducted by Awareness Networks, a social media solution provider. As Web 2.0 and collaboration acceptance grows, employers are thinking more about best practices to encourage participation.

According to Awareness Networks, a social media solution provider, employers are starting to allow social media participation more freely in their organizations. The company contends, based on a recent survey it conducted, that the walls are coming down on social network use for business purposes.

The number of organizations that allow social networking for business purposes has increased, it says, to 69 percent in 2008-up from 37 percent in last year's survey.

Survey respondents said their organizations use social media to build and promote their brand (63 percent), improve communication and collaboration (61 percent) and increase consumer engagement (58 percent). Almost half of respondents indicate they are using video, social networking, blogs and online communities successfully.

Some employers are using internal-facing social media communities for employees, rather than using Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn. One third of respondents indicate their organization plans to deploy an internal-facing community, and the main goal is to increase knowledge sharing and employee collaboration. Other employers use external-facing communities or a blend of internal and external communities. Slightly less than a third of respondents said their companies were planning to deploy external- facing communities, while 13 percent of respondents said they already have them.

Employers are thinking more about how to integrate Web 2.0 technologies and are taking steps to encourage participation, according to the survey. As Web 2.0 acceptance grows, employers are thinking more about best practices to encourage participation.