Enterprise social networking is an organization’s use of social media, internally and externally, to connect individuals who share similar business interests or activities.
Internally, social tools can help employees to access the knowledge and resources they need to work together effectively and solve business problems. Enterprise social networking includes the use of in-house intranet software as well as third-party social media platforms like Yammer and Socialcast to improve communication and collaboration between employees.
Externally, public social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ can help an organization stay close to their customers and conduct research to improve business processes and operations.
In the age of Enterprise 2.0 and with the emergence of Generation F in the workforce, companies are increasingly encouraging employees to use their social networking skills for business purposes. To protect the corporate brand, most large corporations have implemented social media policies to ensure that employees communicate appropriately across all social software channels.