Mediaboss Marketing

Google has started publicly testing an initial set of enterprise social networking (ESN) features for Google+, adding a key collaboration component for Google Apps customers.

Google first indicated last year that it planned to release an enterprise version of Google+ and that it was already using it internally.

On Wednesday, the company released in preview mode the first Google+ features tailored specifically for workplace use, aimed at Google Apps, the cloud email and collaboration suite for schools, companies and government agencies.

"During this preview period, organizations that have gone Google will be able to use the business features of Google+ for free through the end of 2013 while we continue to add more features and administrative controls designed for organizations," wrote Clay Bavor, product management director, Google Apps, in a blog post.

Google+ was launched as a consumer social networking site in mid-2011, but by creating a version for workplaces, Google is joining the hot ESN trend. ESN software provides Facebook- and Twitter-like functionality adapted for workplace use, including employee profiles, activity streams, microblogging, document sharing, content rating, blogging, discussion groups and online communities.

ESN software is provided by specialty vendors like NewsGator, Jive Software and Socialtext, but larger vendors like Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, SAP and Salesforce.com are adding ESN modules and capabilities to their larger collaboration suites and enterprise applications.

Thus, gaining an ESN component is critical for Google Apps, since ESN by now is considered an essential element in enterprise collaboration suites.

The ESN features of Google+ have been in private testing by customers like Kaplan and Banshee Wines, the company said.

Specifically, this first set of ESN features in Google+ includes more granular control over content posted on the service. "When you create a post you can mark it as restricted. Restricted posts are private to your organization and can never be re-shared with anyone outside," he wrote. However, it's also possible to share posts with partners and others outside of an organization's domain.

Google+ is also gaining IT administration controls to let IT staffers establish policies for usage and content sharing.

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Google Adds Enterprise Social Networking Features to Google+

Summary: The emergence of new social networking services such as Pinterest and a growing base of disgruntled 3rd party developers for the leading services shows that changes in the social networking industry are far from over. It's also causing a rethinking of the business models and partner ecosystems of what's become the old guard, Facebook and Twitter.

Social networks have long relied on the kindness of what are essentially strangers in order to thrive. You might be thinking I'm talking about the people that use them, and I am. But I'm also referring to two other constituencies of social networks that are nearly as important and which happen to be vital for their long term growth and health: Developers and advertisers.

That's not all either. As a social networks get larger in size and longer in the tooth, they must add employees and venture capital firms to the mix as well, who want good returns on their time, effort, and investments. These groups end up pulling the business in different, competing directions. However, the tension resulting from the cross-purposes between all of these constituencies isn't really surprising. After all, social networks -- like businesses -- are themselves made of people. Differing agendas, objectives, and priorities are part of the mix, like any community of individuals.

But of all these, it's developers and advertisers that are coming into focus recently as moves by popular social networking services such as Twitter have begun alienating the former as they appear to proactively cater to the latter. In particular, this week's scrubbing of 3rd party app source names from tweets means that Twitter is essentially white-washing its developers' app presence from its feeds. What does this mean exactly? Going forward, when one posts to Twitter from Hootsuite or Tweetdeck or Instagram, no one will be able to tell which app was used.

While the source of the app that posted a tweet may not seem very important to users, it's critical for a developer that has spent their time and money creating a new type of Twitter client and relies on its visibility to succeed. And this where the rub is, because developers were arguably instrumental in building Twitter into what it is today. When I talked with Alex Payne, Twitter's API lead, back in 2009, he reported nine out of 10 users of the entire service were already using 3rd party clients to post and consume tweets. Developers had literally became the public face of the service for most users. What's more, they helped provide the myriad user experiences and features that no single company could provide by itself.

Related: Twitter edges out third party clients with tighter API rules

Now that the service is enormously popular, with over 500 million registered users as of this year, Twitter apparently wants to deal itself back into being the primary intermediary with the user. Increasingly restrictive rules for what developers can do continue to be announced. For its part, Facebook has also lowered the boom several times on those that helped build it out in its early days, when they needed every 3rd party app they could get back in 2007 to propel them past MySpace, the market leader at the time.

Of course, as I observed as Facebook prepared to go public, the dual opposing pressures of protecting customer privacy while endlessly inventing ever more sophisticated ways to monetize their data was going to be a tall order indeed. For the most successful social networks today, both of these issues will ultimately end up penalizing 3rd party developers that have invested in the platform. At the same time the host social networks will end up trying to preserve the most valuable aspects of the data only for themselves.

Those who've following my writing over the years knows that I'm quite bullish on strategically using open APIs as a way to scale partnership and harness innovation as cost-effectively as possible. It's a brilliant strategy for startups, and the smart use of open APIs directly led to the success of Internet giants such as Amazon, Twitter, and Facebook who've all used them to rapidly create marketshare, network effects, and vibrant partner ecosystems. Today, few startups launch without an API coming a short while later. But the end game for 3rd party developers seems increasingly bleak for social networks, at least how the services are designed as businesses today.

Then there's the issue that the current social networking monoculture, where the vast majority of people are using a few large services, hasn't changed much recently. Because of this, I think a strong argument can be made that they have inherently begun to limit innovation and create stagnation in the marketplace as they attempt to consolidate control. But with the recent provocations to developers (API restrictions) and users (privacy concerns) and the rise of a some compelling competing services, it may not be situation that lasts very long.

See the article here:
Is the social networking monoculture ready to crumble?

The social networking world may be a busy place with users loyal to their favorites, but a co-founder of start-up Branch says his new network should easily blend in.

"We absolutely see ourselves as being complimentary to everything else," said Josh Miller, who co-founded Branch, a new social discussion site. "We don't like the way that other companies point out negatives about other sites. We think Twitter is amazing. We think Facebook is amazing.... I think we'll fit right in."

Branch, which is in public beta with invitations only available by request, is a site focused on helping people have online conversations. On the site, users are able to pick who they want to talk with. Users also can try to be added to a conversation by clicking on an "Ask to Join" button.

"It's like putting people in a room together and having them talk," Miller told Computerworld. "They're swapping messages like they would in e-mail or IM or around the table. It's all about talking to people you know."

Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, agrees that there is room for Branch to fit into the social networking world.

"Branch fills a gap opened by Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Quora to enable high-quality conversations without the noise," he said. "It also takes advantage of the desire for more intimate, private conversations of self-selected groups.... Branch is trying to find a way to lower the signal-to-noise ratio of babblers to meaningful participants."

Even so, Jim McGregor, an analyst with TIRIAS Research, said that with so already available, Branch could find it difficult to get any traction.

"Conversations could be done with the tools that are available today, namely Facebook and Twitter," said McGregor. "I think this is more of a solution looking for a problem than the other way around. At this point, there are so many tools available that I think it is going to be difficult for any newcomer to standout from the crowd, not to mention finding a way to make money at it."

Branch, though, has a lot of support. The business is backed by Obvious Corp., the company piloted by Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams.

On Branch, conversations are open to the public, though, at this point, the site doesn't have a way to search for users or particular conversation topics. However, the main page on the site lists the day's hot topics, like Hiking the Grand Canyon, Berlin Trip Tips, and Advice for Friends Who Feel Stuck in their Careers.

Continued here:
Startup Branch Offers Place to Chat

Austin, TX (PRWEB) August 24, 2012

Open source social networking applications are becoming more and more popular. While Facebook is still king for social networking sites, sometimes there is a need for a self hosted business networking site.

While there are tons of open source social networking applications available, several have withstood the test of time and users short attention spans to put themselves above the fold. Black Box Social Media has released their list of the top 7 open source social networking sites in order of popularity.

To view this report, please visit http://blackboxsocialmedia.com/social-networking/top-7-open-source-social-networking-applications/

"The purpose of using one of these open source social networking softwares over Facebook or LinkedIn is that you will have more control of the site, i.e. the branding, domain name, features, design, community rules, and even the database," says Black Box Social Media Co Creator Nick Bridges.

About Black Box Social Media: Black Box Social Media is an online marketing company that utilizes multiple digital marketing strategies including web design, social media marketing, pay per click, video marketing, article creation, and much more. BBSM also created the do it yourself online training product 'Social Media In 7 Minutes', which contains over 60 videos detailing how to create, set up, optimize, and engage on top sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, and more. For more information on Social Media In 7 Minutes, please visit http://SocialMediaIn7Minutes.com.

View post:
The Top 7 Open Source Social Networking Applications Revealed by Black Box Social Media

The social networking world may be a busy place with users loyal to their favorites, but a co-founder of start-up Branch says his new network should easily blend in.

"We absolutely see ourselves as being complimentary to everything else," said Josh Miller, who co-founded Branch, a new social discussion site. "We don't like the way that other companies point out negatives about other sites. We think Twitter is amazing. We think Facebook is amazing.... I think we'll fit right in."

Branch, which is in public beta with invitations only available by request, is a site focused on helping people have online conversations. On the site, users are able to pick who they want to talk with. Users also can try to be added to a conversation by clicking on an "Ask to Join" button.

"It's like putting people in a room together and having them talk," Miller told Computerworld. "They're swapping messages like they would in email or IM or around the table. It's all about talking to people you know."

Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, agrees that there is room for Branch to fit into the social networking world.

"Branch fills a gap opened by Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Quora to enable high-quality conversations without the noise," he said. "It also takes advantage of the desire for more intimate, private conversations of self-selected groups.... Branch is trying to find a way to lower the signal-to-noise ratio of babblers to meaningful participants."

Even so, Jim McGregor, an analyst with TIRIAS Research, said that with so many social tools already available, Branch could find it difficult to get any traction.

"Conversations could be done with the tools that are available today, namely Facebook and Twitter," said McGregor. "I think this is more of a solution looking for a problem than the other way around. At this point, there are so many tools available that I think it is going to be difficult for any newcomer to standout from the crowd, not to mention finding a way to make money at it."

Branch, though, has a lot of support. The business is backed by Obvious Corp., the company piloted by Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams.

On Branch, conversations are open to the public, though, at this point, the site doesn't have a way to search for users or particular conversation topics. However, the main page on the site lists the day's hot topics, like Hiking the Grand Canyon, Berlin Trip Tips and Advice for Friends Who Feel Stuck in their Careers.

Read more:
Will Branch fit into crowded social networking world?