Social networking tool help drive knowledge sharing

Pass It Along is IBM’s social networking tool, which the company says is aimed at helping organisations to take “a more user-friendly, collaborative approach” to knowledge sharing.

Big Blue points out that nearly 22 million workers are set to retire this year in the US alone, exposing serious problems for companies needing to retain industry expertise. Hence the drive for a system designed to help companies, regardless of size, to get their workforces sharing information more easily.

IBM says that is tool integrates knowledge management, social networking and Web 2.0 to simplify the way information is shared. It enables users to access, share and rate essential information; while also categorising it, from the web or an intranet. Contributors can also determine how broadly their information is shared and who else can collaborate.

“Organizations looking to on-board new resources, conduct business process training, and complement formal education with an informal tool that serves up essential information will find Pass It Along useful,” comments Dr Tony O’Driscoll, professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

“Software developers in particular can use the technology within their existing IT infrastructure without the typical administration costs associated with traditional knowledge management applications.”

http://www.mcsolutions.co.uk/article/16103/Social-networking-tool-help-drive-knowledge-sharing-.aspx

50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on

By Inside CRM Editors

If your business limits its online presence to advertising banners and blogging, it's missing out. The Internet provides powerful networking opportunities that allow users to effectively target their audience by logging on to social sites like LinkedIn, Digg and more. Take advantage of these tools by asserting your company's presence online and reaching more potential customers, business partners and employees.

Social-Media/Social-Bookmarking Sites

Share your favorite sites on the Web with potential clients and business partners by commenting on, uploading and ranking different newsworthy articles. You can also create a member profile that directs traffic back to your company's Web site.

1. Reddit: Upload stories and articles on reddit to drive traffic to your site or blog. Submit items often so that you'll gain a more loyal following and increase your presence on the site.
2. Digg: Digg has a huge following online because of its optimum usability. Visitors can submit and browse articles in categories like technology, business, entertainment, sports and more.
3. Del.icio.us: Social bookmark your way to better business with sites like del.icio.us, which invite users to organize and publicize interesting items through tagging and networking.
4. StumbleUpon: You'll open your online presence up to a whole new audience just by adding the StumbleUpon toolbar to your browser and "channel surf[ing] the Web. You'll "connect with friends and share your discoveries," as well as "meet people that have similar interests."
5. Technorati: If you want to increase your blog's readership, consider registering it with Technorati, a network of blogs and writers that lists top stories in categories like Business, Entertainment and Technology.
6. Ning: After hanging around the same social networks for a while, you may feel inspired to create your own, where you can bring together clients, vendors, customers and co-workers in a confidential, secure corner of the Web. Ning lets users design free social networks that they can share with anyone.
7. Squidoo: According to Squidoo, "everyone's an expert on something. Share your knowledge!" Share your industry's secrets by answering questions and designing a profile page to help other members.
8. Furl: Make Furl "your personal Web file" by bookmarking great sites and sharing them with other users by recommending links, commenting on articles and utilizing other fantastic features.
9. Tubearoo: This video network works like other social-bookmarking sites, except that it focuses on uploaded videos. Businesses can create and upload tutorials, commentaries and interviews with industry insiders to promote their own services.
10. WikiHow: Create a how-to guide or tutorial on wikiHow to share your company's services with the public for free.
    
11. YouTube: From the fashion industry to Capitol Hill, everyone has a video floating around on YouTube. Shoot a behind-the-scenes video from your company's latest commercial or event to give customers and clients an idea of what you do each day.
12. Ma.gnolia: Share your favorite sites with friends, colleagues and clients by organizing your bookmarks with Ma.gnolia. Clients will appreciate both your Internet-savviness and your ability to stay current and organized.

Professional-Networking Sites

Sign up with these online networking communities as a company or as an individual to take advantage of recruiting opportunities, cross-promotional events and more.

13. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a popular networking site where alumni, business associates, recent graduates and other professionals connect online.
14. Ecademy: Ecademy prides itself on "connecting business people" through its online network, blog and message-board chats, as well as its premier BlackStar membership program, which awards exclusive benefits.
15. Ryze: Ryze lets members organize contacts and friends; upcoming events; and even job, real-estate and roommate classifieds.
16. YorZ: This networking site doubles as a job site. Members can post openings for free to attract quality candidates.
17. Xing: An account with networking site Xing can "open doors to thousands of companies." Use the professional contact manager to organize your new friends and colleagues, and take advantage of the Business Accelerator application to "find experts at the click of a button, market yourself in a professional context [and] open up new sales channels."
18. Facebook: Facebook is no longer just for college kids who want to post their party pics. Businesses vie for advertising opportunities, event promotion and more on this social-networking site.
19. Care2: Care2 isn't just a networking community for professionals: It's touted as "the global network for organizations and people who Care2 make a difference." If your business is making efforts to go green, let others know by becoming a presence on this site.
20. Gather: This networking community is made up of members who think. Browse categories concerning books, health, money, news and more to ignite discussions on politics, business and entertainment. This will help your company tap into its target audience and find out what they want.
21. MEETin.org: Once you've acquired a group of contacts in your city by networking on MEETin.org, organize an event so that you can meet face-to-face.
22. Tribe: Cities like Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, New York and Chicago have unique online communities on tribe. Users can search for favorite restaurants, events, clubs and more.
23. Ziggs: Ziggs is "organizing and connecting people in a professional way." Join groups and make contacts through your Ziggs account to increase your company's presence online and further your own personal career.
24. Plaxo: Join Plaxo to organize your contacts and stay updated with feeds from Digg, Amazon.com, del.icio.us and more.
25. NetParty: If you want to attract young professionals in cities like Boston, Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Orlando Fla., create an account with the networking site NetParty. You'll be able to connect with qualified, up-and-coming professionals online, then meet them at a real-life happy-hour event where you can pass out business cards, pitch new job openings and more.
26. Networking For Professionals: Networking For Professionals is another online community that combines the Internet with special events in the real world. Post photos, videos, résumés and clips on your online profile while you meet new business contacts.

Niche Social-Media Sites

Consider linking up with one of these social-media sites to narrow down your business's target audience. You'll find other professionals, enthusiasts and consumers who are most likely already interested in what your company has to offer.

27. Pixel Groovy: Web workers will love Pixel Groovy, an open-source site that lets members submit and rate tutorials for Web 2.0, email and online-marketing issues.
28. Mixx: Mixx prides itself on being "your link to the Web content that really matters." Submit and rate stories, photos and news to drive traffic to your own site. You'll also meet others with similar interests.
29. Tweako: Gadget-minded computer geeks can network with each other on Tweako, a site that promotes information sharing for the technologically savvy.
30. Small Business Brief: When members post entrepreneur-related articles, a photo and a link to their profile appear, gaining you valuable exposure and legitimacy online.
31. Sphinn: Sphinn is an online forum and networking site for the Internet marketing crowd. Upload articles and guides from your blog to create interest in your own company or connect with other professionals for form new contacts.
32. BuzzFlash.net: This one-stop news resource is great for businesses that want to contribute articles on a variety of subjects, from the environment to politics to health.
33. HubSpot: HubSpot is another news site aimed at connecting business professionals.
34. SEO TAGG: Stay on top of news from the Web marketing and SEO (search-engine optimization) industries by becoming an active member of this online community.

General Social-Media Sites

The following social-media sites provide excellent opportunities for businesses to advertise; promote specials, events or services; and feature published, knowledgeable employees.

35. Wikipedia: Besides creating your own business reference page on Wikipedia, you can connect with other users on Wikipedia's Community Portal and at the village pump, where you'll find conscientious professionals enthusiastic about news, business, research and more.
36. Newsvine: Feature top employees by uploading their articles, studies or other news-related items to this site. A free account will also get you your own column and access to the Newsvine community.
37. 43 Things: This site bills itself as "the world's most popular online goal setting community." By publicizing your company's goals and ambitions, you'll gain a following of customers, investors and promoters who cheer you on as you achieve success.
38. Wetpaint: If you're tired of blogs and generic Web sites, create your own wiki with Wetpaint to reach your audience and increase your company's presence online. You can easily organize articles, contact information, photos and other information to promote your business.
39. Frappr: Embed a Frappr map and guestbook into your company's Web page so that you can pinpoint exactly how users find your site, discover in real-time what they have to say about your company profile and services, and create an "interactive, fun and engaging" spot for visitors.
40. Yahoo! Answers: Start fielding Yahoo! users' questions with this social-media Q&A service. Search for questions in your particular areas of expertise by clicking categories like Business & Finance, Health, News & Events and more. If you continue to dole out useful advice and link your answer to your company's Web page, you'll quickly gain a new following of curious customers.

Job Sites

If you want to secure high-quality talent during your company's next hiring spree, you'll need to maintain a strong presence on popular job sites like the ones listed below.

41. CareerBuilder.com: Reach millions of candidates by posting jobs on this must-visit site.
42. The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal: The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal attracts well-educated professionals who are at the top of their game. Post a job or search résumés here.
43. CollegeRecruiter.com: If your firm wants to hire promising entry-level employees, check CollegeRecuriter.com for candidates with college degrees.
44. Monster: Post often to separate your business from all the other big companies that use this site to advertise job openings.
45. Sologig: Top freelancers and contractors post résumés and look for work on this popular site.
46. AllFreelance.com: This site "offers self-employed small business owners links to freelance & work at home job boards, self-promotion tips" and more.
47. Freelance Switch Job Listings: Freelance Switch is the freelancer's online mecca and boasts articles, resource toolboxes, valuable tips and a job board.
48. GoFreelance: Employers looking to boost their vendor base should check GoFreelance for professionals in the writing, design, editing and Web industries.
49. Yahoo! Hot Jobs: This site is often one of the first places that job seekers visit. Post open opportunities and check out informative articles and guides to gain insight on the hiring and interviewing process.
50. Guru.com: Build your company's repertoire with top freelancing professionals by advertising projects on this site, otherwise known as "the world's largest online service marketplace."

Social networking, Collaboration and Knowledge Management

Author: Sean Lew

The key themes in Enterprise 2.0 is social networking and collaboration and the technologies involved in getting this done are Wikis, Social Networking, Blogs, Search, Really Simple Syndication (RSS), Social Bookmarking, Mashups, Portals, Social Voting/Ranking, Web Services, Web/Videoconferencing, Bulletin Boards/Discussion Forums, Web Content Management, Workflow/BPM, Instant Messaging, Social Network Analysis, Taxonomy and Podcasting. If you look at the list, its actually alot of stuff we are dealing with. However, most of it can be broken down to some levels of social networking and collaboration.

Many people do not think that Enterprise 2.0 is the next Knowledge Management buzzword and I am one of them. Enterprise 2.0 does much more than that. However, what enterprise 2.0 does WILL change the way people look at knowledge management in future. Let me explain why.

How Knowledge is Created?
For knowledge to be created, some ingredients must be involved. For the purposes of this discussion, I will limit this to knowledge creation of one specific topic only (i.e. Java programming). First, an individual needs to have some base knowledge and through combination of new findings and materials, new knowledge is created. Combination in this case does not necessary need to come in the form of individual exploration but can be in the form of exchanging ideas and knowledge between friends, colleagues and almost anything under the sun. For an organisation, to gain new knowledge, they can either 1) invest in their employees (through the above) and 2) Hire new people with new experiences.

In this part, social networking enables unprecedented power to explore a network that allows the exchange of ideas which can lead to new knowledge creation. However, this does not mean that when you find the right person, that person would actually be willing to help.

Different types of knowledge
There are four main types of knowledge in an organisation 1) Individual explicit knowledge, 2) Individual tacit knowledge, 3) Enterprise explicit knowledge and 4) Enterprise tacit knowledge. I would assume that whoever that is reading this understands the difference between tacit and explicit knowledge. So what I am proposing here is that each employee knows something and some part of the organisation and its practices and processes. Collectively, through some storage system (i.e. Knowledge management systems), the organisation stores this information and make it searchable. We must understand that unless that information is stored and made searchable, the information that each individual have within the organisation is only valid for as long as the employee is valid. Also, the information that is stored would be predominately explicit knowledge and enterprise tacit knowledge would be pretty much the work habits, culture and business processes.

In this part, Enterprise 2.0 provides the collaborative platform of consolidating all the information from around the company. The collective intelligence of (hopefully but not realistic) everything that is known by all employees in the organisation would be stored on the collaborative platform and everything will be searchable.

From the above, you can see that Enterprise 2.0 changes the way an organisation collects new knowledge and how it stores the knowledge and therefore changing the way organisations would approach Knowledge Management in future.

KM Market to Hit $157 Billion

Global Industry Analysts has released a new research report of the global knowledge management (KM) market which estimates that US $34.17 billion was expended on KM technologies and solutions in 2007. The United States leads the global market with revenues estimated to exceed US $20.6 billion by the end of the year 2008. KM services are estimated to account for about 67.6% of the global knowledge management revenues - an estimated US $31.21 billion in 2008. Worldwide, KM software revenues are projected to grow at a CAGR of 45.3% over the years 2002 through 2010. As knowledge management gains significance, vendors are vying with each other to capture a share of the market. The KM software market is increasingly witnessing the convergence of advanced technologies that deal with the analysis and management of unstructured information. According to Global Industry Analysts, vendors, offering specialized and integrated knowledge management services suites, are expected to enhance their market presence. As the need to acquire advanced technologies increases, vendors aim to expand their product line by acquiring technologies from other vendors. As a result, the market is witnessing increased consolidation activity. Leading players in the worldwide knowledge management market covered in this market research report include Capgemini, Computer Sciences Corporation, Open Text Corporation, IBM Global Services and Interwoven Inc., among others. The report, Knowledge Management: A Global Strategic Business Report, provides in-depth analysis of various factors affecting growth in the market, and reviews global and regional market trends. The report includes coverage of end-use industries, product launches and strategic corporate developments. Market size estimates and projections are presented in terms of revenues in US dollars over the years 2002 through 2010. Long-term projections have been presented for the years 2011 through 2015. Product segments independently analyzed include KM software and KM services. Source: The KNOW Network [Date Added : 11/17/2008 ]

Knowledge Management to Catalyst Economic Growth

Knowledge Management to Catalyst Economic Growth: K V Kamath, President, CII

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Wednesday, November 05, 2008 -- (Business Wire India)
To achieve the aspirational growth rate of 8% as desired by the Indian Prime Minister, Indian banking industry needs to work backwards to see that adequate liquidity is in the system and also engage with the industry to ensure that projects are executed on schedule without a break, so that the economic cycle is not broken, Mr K V Kamath, President, CII and Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, ICICI Bank pointed out during his special address at Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised Knowledge Management (KM) summit KM India 2008.

Mr K V Kamath also said effective knowledge management is a catalyst for economic growth. "More it (knowledge) is allowed to flow, more it grows. Sixty percent of India's GDP is generated by the service industry and for them knowledge is key" He cautioned on companies not changing their internal structure to adapt for fast changing external business environment.

In a flat world, where knowledge is available at the touch of a button, the key differentiator is often Knowledge Management. Knowledge is increasingly becoming a valuable asset along with the traditional factors of production such as labor and capital. Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) bought together luminaries from the industry, academes, and consultancy under KM India 2008 banner who over the three days would discuss and share best practices and trends in the industry.

This year's theme for KM India summit is enhancing competitiveness through KM and expert would discuss critical issues like Strategy & Assessment; Competencies and Cultural building for Knowledge Organisation; Technology Trends for Managing Knowledge etc. The Summit brings together global experts on Knowledge Management from the industry, consulting, academia and non-profit organizations to discuss the challenges facing the knowledge-intensive industries and organizations. Experts will deliberate on the technologies, processes and cultural elements facilitating Knowledge Management.

In his keynote address, Mr. Suresh Prabhu, former Union Minister & Member of Parliament, said KM can be used a key to organizational benefit, in a fast changing world, the concern changes from 'how to thrive' to 'how to survive'. "These days every bit of knowledge that is created is attempted to trap under patents and intellectual property rights. There should be free flow of information and knowledge, which would lead to greater good. The greatest knowledge source of all times, the Vedas, have no copyright protection or known author," he said.

KM India is CII's endeavour to create an ecosystem that generates economic value through effective harnessing of knowledge and intellectual capital. The intent is to create a better understanding of knowledge management practices, research and practical applications.

Mr Ashok Soota, Chairman, CII Mission on Knowledge and Chairman and Managing Director, MindTree Limited said that KM has become a key item on the corporate agenda and is increasingly seen as a key enabler that fosters the organization's ability to innovate. "Traditional lab culture (closed door innovation) is giving way to open source, where technology allows organizations to reach out to the world for solutions. Organisations can use KM to open new markets, but at the same time, it needs to be in line with its business strategy."

Mr Banmali Agrawala, Chairman, CII Western Region and, Executive Director, Tata Power Co. Ltd. said KM appears to be more of a mindset and attitude issue than a system or a process issue. "One of the challenge is KM is to translate knowledge into a fashion that can be easily replicated and propagated downstream for adoption and absorption."

Source: Confederation of Indian Industry
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 06:19 PM IST (12:49 PM GMT)
Editors: General: Economy, People; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Education & training, Media & entertainment