The social network sites called Facebook, Secondlife, Linkedin, Flickr are more than just digital entertainment, they have become the experimental frontline of a new way of communicating and doing business.
Because of the fast changes and new jargon and names, there is a danger that people are missing the bigger picture which is the business aspect of it.
We have all heard about the web-based arena, where all office application can be reached anywhere and at anytime. Collaborative, web-based tools represent a fundamental change in the way that business will be conducted.
Don Tapscott wrote a book in 2006 called Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration changes everything. Two prime examples where mentioned in this book of "old economy" companies benefiting from web-enabled mass collaboration.
Goldcorp, a Canadian mining company in a traditionally secretive industry, famously made all of its geological information public online, and ran a competition to help it identify where to look for gold. Thousands of submissions came from unconventional sources; many of these were productive, leading to 8 million ounces of new gold production.
Procter and Gamble has at the moment thousands of non-employee scientists signed up to its open collaboration network, focused on innovation and problem-solving. The aim is to generate at least half of future new business ideas and technology from outside of the company.
This trend is too big to ignore and can represent a serious threat to the survival of those companies that ignore it. It represents a massive opportunity for creativity, productivity and competitiveness in those companies that embrace this change.
The premise is that Web2.0 is just beginning. The future is predicated on collaboration and what we currently see as primarily entertainment sites for the young. These are arenas for the experiments for future business collaboration and operation.
So, "wikinomics" and "web 2.0" is the beginning for the mass collaboration, enabled by the Internet and provides the opportunity for all types of organizations to transform the way they operate.
Some businesses facilitate "expert" customers to help other customers in online expert forums and make available knowledge bases, to improve satisfaction, increase the sense of brand community and loyalty, and to reduce customer service and call centre costs. Computer hardware and software companies like Apple, Dell and Microsoft are pro-active with engaging a select group of customers to help other customers problem-solving.
Tapscott"s blog on www.wikinomics.com is currently facilitating a collaborative effort to write a "playbook" on this topic. This would make it possible to facilitate more rapid development of the next stage in web development.
The time of experimentation is here where we see bold innovators already crafting a competitive advantage by learning from their successes and from their mistakes. The grab here is to find a way to increase your collaborative network and to empower experimentation within and outside your company.
In my other article "Using Social Networking Sites Such as Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, and Others. What are They and How are They Used?" I mention some other companies utilizing these arenas to evolve their own companies and to improve customer relationship. Especially users of Facebook has proven some creativity which will launch new ways to cooperate over distance and within the company itself.