Enterprise Social Networks (2008)
Like consumer-focused social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, businesses adopted social applications for the workforce to create that same type of community and camaraderie among employees. A company’s staff is sure to have personal accounts, but businesses realized that it was necessary to have a professional version for work-related conversations. Beginning in 2008, products like Jive, Yammer and Chatter revolutionized the social aspect of business communications. The tool was designed to help organizations work more efficiently and effectively, and Chatter was noted as “the most exciting thing I've worked on in my career" by Salesforce’s Marc Benioff. In a world where email is the primary form of communication, social sites such as these provide a more casual way to communicate that doesn’t require employees to be as buttoned-up in the content they share.