Today most people participate in one or many social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Twitter etc. Additionally Blogging, Podcasting, Wikis, Discussion Forums, Communities, Tagging, Ratings, Reviews and Search has enabled unfettered communications transcending geographic boundaries.

However when it comes to the intranet, though companies do talk of internal facebooks and Linkedin's, the actual benefit and ROI calculations from social networking sites are little difficult to quantify. However the benefits of social capabilities within intranets are clearly evident and could come from cost savings from information reuse, knowledge sharing, reducing cycle time to onboard new employees, effectiveness improvements by building and retaining of intellectual capital etc., and revenue generation opportunities through collaborative participation in a sales process etc.  Some of these are elaborated below.

1.  People associate and connect with people: In the earlier days Intranets (and Portals) were targeted to specific segments or constituents such as Marketing Portal, HR Portal, and Employee Portals etc. At best portals within an enterprise could be similar to iGoogle or Netvibes, where users get access to specific applications or content by virtue of their roles in the organizations. These are usually controlled by their administrators and LOB managers. Unlike such portals, social networking sites within organizations are more transparent and seamless. Rather than siloed boundaries defined by functional segments, social networking sites enables users with common interests to form communities and groups. Thus it is not uncommon to see a network community comprising of individuals from customer care, sales, accounts receivables and engineering sharing a common interest. Though functionally they may be segregated, by virtue of such an association they would be able to collectively work towards common goals such as enhancing customer satisfaction.

2.   Employees will remain more connected to their jobs: Social networking sites within an intranet could reduce voluntary attrition and turnover because employees will be actively engaged with the social fabric of the company which in fact reflects the underlying culture of the organization. People like to work with people they are able to relate with and share something in common, and social networking sites enables nurturing and building such relationships.

3.   Tap collective wisdom of employees: Knowledge accumulated within an organization is hidden in the brains of people. Such internal social networking sites enable free knowledge sharing that can be automatically captured and repurposed. It provides capabilities to identify individuals as experts in a specific domain and allows others to reach out to such experts for their opinions. Such experts could aid in mentoring and guiding people. It unlocks the hidden intellect which would otherwise be lost when an employee retires or leaves the company. Better informed employees are more productive employees.

4.  Improves productivity: Well informed and empowered employees are generally more productive. Transparent communications facilitated through internal social networking sites obviates the need for strict controls and processes and enables unfettered information sharing among employees.

5.   Faster problem resolution: Employees can broadcast requests for help through discussion forums and discussion rooms. Some social networking products give users the ability to rate responses and allows experts to mark a thread as a confirmed /suggested solution. Such answers could be accumulated and posted to a wiki which could become a self evolving knowledge base.

6.   Flattens company structure. The beauty of social networking sites lies in its ability to demolish formal organizational hierarchies. A comment or a post can be read by any participant within the community including the CEO. Senior management can understand and read the pulse of employees by monitoring the chatter within the networking sites. Based on this information they can proactively work with employees in resolving issues and contributing meaningfully to their needs. Such sites also enable integration between siloed functional boundaries such as finance, marketing, sales, production etc. Traditionally such departments are at loggerheads because of conflicting and disconnected departmental goals.

7.   Facilitates internal communications: This is especially important for field facing staff and on-the-move employees, who otherwise would seldom get a chance to interact with their peers and other people within the company. Informal communications through social networking sites in a telecommuting or mobile world brings spirit of camaraderie. Such people can either form formal groups facilitated by the management or can participate in informal self regulated groups as well. If properly used such an environment can complement or even could be an alternative to emails as a means of communication.

8.  Bring new employees up to speed: The knowledge and information in such sites if properly captured and repurposed can be hugely helpful in getting new employees up to speed. This could be effectively used for workplace training and enablement. New employees can be linked up with online buddies to make them comfortable and help them blend effortlessly with their peers and supervisors. Such hires can be encouraged to participate in informal groups, and other participants in the group can respond to any questions etc. Such sites could also be used for communicating corporate policies, business processes or areas related to compliance through an informal setting.

9.   Help create a virtual water cooler:  Allows people to engage in informal and casual conversations leading to bonding among co-workers. People can informally comment on things like cafeteria menu, or have classifieds columns or an internal craigs-list kind of environment for buying selling goods etc.

10.  Idea Management and Innovation: Such sites can foster creativity by enabling employees to post ideas to a common forum and others can comment, rank, rate, and participate. Once an idea gets accepted by a large number of users the same can be moved into a more formal process. Senior management can get involved at at appropriate time with investment of time, money and resources. Ideally senior management could act as an Internal VC to evaluate and support best voted ideas. Such a process would help create innovative Intrapreneurs within an organization and such innovations could be an effective competitive edge for the company in the marketplace.