This morning Socialtext launched Socialtext 3.0, a trio of applications for connected collaboration with context:
Socialtext 3.0 delivers connected collaboration with context, both internally within the organization and externally with customers and partners in extranet communities. It is built on a modular and integrated architecture that enables rapid integration with other enterprise systems and makes other enterprise applications social.
Just outta beta, you can get a free trial now.
Socialtext Signals, an integrated Twitter for-the-enterprise
We also announced Socialtext Signals, integrated microblogging for the enterprise. Socialtext Signals is social messaging for the enterprise connected
with context. With the rise of Twitter, more people are learning
the benefits of microblogging as a medium for conversations and sharing
each day. Socialtext developed a standalone version six months ago.
Using it internally we've learned how different usage is from Twitter,
not just because it is more private, but because it is in the context
of a company. The social patterns of what people say and share has
taught us a lot about potential use cases. Now in private beta with
Socialtext customers, Socialtext Signals will provide an integrated
user experience across Socialtext Workspace, Socialtext Dashboard and
Socialtext People.
Conversations Connected with Context
Socialtext Signals is built upon a Connected Collaboration Platform for
an integrated user experience. This provides two forms of microblogging:
- What people are saying and sharing -- through Socialtext Signals
- What people are doing and working on -- through Socialtext People's Update Feeds
One benefit we have observed with Signals is helping the signal to
noise ratio. For example, if someone makes edits to four wiki pages and
summarizes what they did in a signal. Another pattern is what someone
does can serve as a weak signal and through signal conversations be
elevated to a strong signal for a broader group to pay attention to.
But the general pattern of value for signaling is sharing context. Not
only does Socialtext Signals enable people to share context, but it
benefits from the context of who people are through Profiles and how
they collaborate in Workspaces. Socialtext People contains Update Feeds
that are automatically generated by the activity of people. When
combined with Socialtext solutions such as Service & Support,
connected collaboration with context could increase the integrated
value proposition. For a major electronics manufacturer with five
thousand employee call center using Socialtext for knowledge sharing
and documentation, they decreased time-to-resolution by 10-30%
according to their own measures. With greater context and the ability
to gain collective insight from the group without costly interruptions,
the organizational capability could be substantially greater.
Get answers without interrupting people
A common social pattern on twitter is to ask questions to find
information or people. The results can be surprisingly effective, but
also efficient. Beyond search, you are tapping into the collective
intelligence of participants. Rapidly. And without the costs associated
with other communication mediums for asking people questions. This is
because the constraints of microblogging actually support efficient
communications:
- Messaging is in near real time
- Messages are kept to 140 characters, the length of an SMS message, which encourages brevity, summary and linking
- While you can view all messages, you follow people to create a
custom feed of the signals from the people you want, leveraging the
social network as a filter
- In most use cases, Signals is implemented as a "Reply-Optional" medium
- @Reply conventions reveal when a message is directed to you in
public, while letting others add value or benefit from the conversation
While the integrated value proposition of Socialtext Signals will be
greater with process-specific solutions, the broader values include
speed of communication, knowledge sharing, context sharing and
collective intelligence.
Kudos
I'm really proud of the entire team for getting out our most substantial upgrade in years. Eugene Lee has brought a great focus on execution across the company and the outside world only sees it through punctuated events like this one. Also, my heartfelt thanks to Pete Kaminski who developed the standalone version and added greatly to this vision.
Coverage
Today at 9/9/09 9am EDT, Socialtext released 
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