In yet another sign that this will be the year of the activity stream, Socialtext is adding a Twitter-like message stream to its enterprise wiki/workspace service, The new feature is called Socialtext Signals, and it appears both as a widget in the Socialtext dashboard and as a standalone desktop app built on Adobe AIR.
Socialtext Signals is essentially an enterprise version of Twitter, much like Yammer. Employees within a company can micro-message each other without competitors or the rest of the world snooping. They will see only the messages of the co-workers they are following. In addition to the 140-character messaging between co-workers (the “signals”), there is also an “activity” tab. This generates a micro-message every time a person you are following takes an action inside Socialtext, such as creating a wiki page, writing a blog post, or making a comment.
The activity stream which Socialtext makes visible is very particular to its products, and in fact is designed to keep employees engaged with those products. Any time someone changes a page that you’ve created or edited in the past, it shows up as an activity. So constant updates from Ralph in engineering about the progress of a project serves as a reminder for everyone else to do their part as well. Unlike Yammer, there is no ability to create subgroups within Signals, or upload files. But then, you can always create workgroups elsewhere in Socialtext, and upload files directly into linked wikis. Signals just ties it all together. There is no mobile support either, however, which is a more serious gap.
Socialtext is used as a collaboration tool by 5,000 companies (subscriptions are as much at $15 per employee per month). Signals and the desktop app should go far towards increasing employee interaction with the service. Each update serves as a prompt to follow up on a project or keep it moving along, while Signals can also serve as the new watercooler. Companies that don’t need Socialtext’s other apps (the workspace and the dashboard, primarily) might want to check out a simpler enterprise micro-messaging service such as Yammer or WIzeHive.
At $15 a month seems quite pricey, but I guess that’s how much privacy these days costs.
TechFilipino
If you go with another vendor, you do not have to pay $15/employee if you just want the microblogging feature.
For example, we use Present.ly (a microbloggging tool for the enterprise), and that is $1/employee, and it provides the privacy you need since it works behind the firewall. And we created groups based on our projects and departments. Moreover, it can also be used as an interface to the customer on specific projects. So many different possibilities available – Intridea, Inc. (created Present.ly) works with you to customize the tools based on needs and preferences.
As I mentioned below, the cost is not just for Signals. It is for all of Socialtext (wiki, blogs, dashboards, profiles, social networking, activity streams, desktop client, etc, etc, etc) which can be used securely both behind the firewall and externally.
If you would like to compare the cost to “free microblogging solutions” which you download, install, configure, manage, and maintain on your own, you need to factor in the costs of your hardware, and your administration time. Then repeat that for your wiki solution, your blogging solution, your directory, etc.
Now, what are your true costs?
agree with Francis Simisim!
At YoolinkPro we also added a microblogging feature. We realized after the Beta test that providing an informal way to communicate within a company is really important.
YoolinkPro is a social bookmarking tool designed for companies (mostly for collaborative intelligence), yet users need more than just saving content : they need to be able to add a layer of information coming from internal experts and specialists…
So we do agree with you : this year is going to be the year of activity stream
@Francis Simisim: I don’t think it is just about privacy. QoS & Customer care has a price too!
Good post, thanks for the info
@Francis Simisim and ebuy777- Check out cyn.in.
We have been using it in our organization. They have a brilliant client built on Adobe AIR. It looks fantastic – has an activity stream, status updates (like Twitter) and complements the cyn.in collaboration suite.
And its completely free!!
Check out the screenshots on their site: http://www.cyna...-desktop-client
Richard, I agree Cyn does have a nice looking stand alone client. However, you are not comparing like offerings in your “Its completely free” claim.
According to the Cyn web site, their enterprise offerings are:
$6250 per year for appliance, or $889/month.
That is not exactly free in my math.
I love the idea of twitter been using it for quite some time now and with ‘SocialText’ will enjoy even more.
Me too, good post
Stop AIR already.
I was more interested in getting Mayfield to share his insights into how small and midsized companies use social networking differently from large enterprises.
Francis and ebuy777, That price is not just for Signals. It is for all of Socialtext: wikis, dashboards, blogs, social networking, microblogging, desktop, etc.
EEI recently announced its nationwide search for a CTO. Starting from the top, EEI has contacted Aber Whitcomb, current MySpace CTO, as well as Sean Parker, Founder of Napster and Former President of FaceBook. “No offers have been agreed upon yet so the search continues”, says EEI CEO RJ Garbowicz.
this is going to sound harsher than I mean it to, but I hadn’t realized socialtext was still in business. thanks for the good news.
Twitter. is. a. feature. Deal with it yo!
8posts: “I was more interested in getting Mayfield to share his insights into how small and midsized companies use social networking differently from large enterprises.”
> I’ll blog about this soon, thanks for asking.
This week we go commercial with our new enterprise social platform – Rabbit. In testing status updates were one of the most popular features – we had them built in right from the start of our platform, as well as widgets to view other related activities from file creation to calendar updates across the business or groups. Why do people like it – it’s the instant communication that they’ve loved with twitter and facebook updates, but it’s ’secure’ in the business. When you’ve a multinational multisite business it’s amazing what information can get transmitted via these micro-updates – informal information flow really is the way forward.
Excellent site http://www.theappgap.com and I am really pleased to see you have what I am actually looking for this. I am working in the south of france selling property, having fun in the sun and bookmarking everything that I need on the net including http://www.theappgap.com of course ! I has taken me literally 2 hours and 05 minutes of searching the web to find you (just kidding!) so I shall be pleased to become a regular visitor
Thanks
Social * is a new far west for companies. @jamespot, we believe that external users from home will bring inside for Intranet their habits. And we are moving forward for a .pro version soon!