new solar eclipse

We’re all familiar with the tremendous rise of Web 2.0 and social network in our daily lives, whether its multimedia like photos and videos, or communication tools like Facebook and MySpace, or information tools like Wordpress and Wikipedia.  It’s clear that Web 2.0 is here to stay and further evolve as it continues to dominate our online activity.  But the real question is how will enterprise embrace this transition.  There’s no denying the fact that this has already begun with the successes of sites such as Social Text, Yammer, and various wiki/blog software being implemented, however the verdict is still out if social networking and the web 2.0 era will flourish in the enterprise level much in the way they have in the consumer one. I’m going to take a look at a few companies, some of which I mentioned above, that are banking on this fact.

SocialText

SocialText is a wiki/social networking hybrid, offering companies the ability to provide their employees with collaboration tools for better communication.  The idea is if employees within a company can have more robust collaboration tools, as well as more open channels for communication, then their productivity will increase.  Founded in 2002, the company is said to have over 4000 employees and raised over $13 million to date (Techcrunch), impressive numbers for a company that is said to be on the road towards profitability.  Commuication and collaboration seems to be the dominant market for enterprise web 2.0 solutions, which aligns directly with SocialText’s products, which include both an SaaS (software as a service) as well as a productivity suite.  The company recently launched the 3.0 version of it’s software suite.

Yammer

Yammer is a relative new comer to the game, having been launched at the Techcrunch 50 conference this past September.  The company received first place at the conference which saw 52 new and unique startups presenting to a panel of industry experts and VC’s alike.  The application is very simple, think Twitter for the enterprise.  That’s all there is to it.  However, the clear distinction between Twitter and Yammer, besides the targeted audience, is the simple fact that Yammer has a sound business plan (and a strong one too), while Twitter is still struggling to find it’s way towards a revenue model.  Yammer charges $1/month per employee per company, and indications are that revenue has already started to flow less then 3 months since launch.  Estimates have the company making anywhere between $10,000-$20,000 a month, a feat not often accomplished in such a short amount of time amongst web 2.0 companies.  Yammer is funded by Charles River Ventures and Founders Fund.  It’s interesting to not that CRV has an investment in Twitter as well.  Yammer is certainly one of the companies to keep an eye out for in the future.

Eventvue

Eventvue is a  tool that allows conference attendees to connect to one another via a branded event community.  Event coordinators essentially are paying for a branded social network for a specific event.  Features include the usual friends/contact list, profiles, private messaging, chatting, as well as integration with Eventbrite and RegOnline to make the entire process of registering for an event and becoming a member of it’s community a snap.  Though Eventvue is not an enterprise level software in the traditional sense, it does allow companies hosting events to allow a greater level of interaction amongst their attendees, something that is sure to make the experience of the event that much better.