Social Computing in Unternehmen

Social computing refers to supporting social interaction and socialization by the use of IT systems [1; 2]. Within that context, the term “social software” is used for tools or services that “support, extend or derive added value from human social behavior” [3]. While both terms “social computing” and “social software” have only become relatively popular within the last five years, the core ideas behind them have a much longer history, going back to Vannevar Bush’s ideas about the Memex in 1945 [4], and traveling through terms such as Groupware and computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) in the 1970s to 1990s. A very good documentation tracing this evolution can be found in a blog post by Christopher Allen [5]. One of the most important concepts in social computing is participation, which means the free cooperation of as many people as possible without any restrictions of organizations, processes, technologies or particular platforms. The straightforward possibility for everyone to participate and contribute to the big picture can enrich existing classic knowledge management approaches in organizations. Since knowledge, know-how, and qualifications of employees are crucial resources, it bears enormous potential to facilitate their participation [6]. In this context, the term “Enterprise 2.0” has been coined by Andrew McAfee for using social software to support collaborative work and knowledge management “within a company or between companies and their partners or customers” [7]. For in-company operation, social software is typically adjusted to the company context, and integrated with existing intra-company tools [8–10]. Since cooperation is not limited to individual organizations, social software is also employed for facilitating communication with customers and business partners. As long as this results in a bi-directional communication, it is seen as part of Enterprise 2.0. If social software is just used for communicating uni-directionally from the company to customers, it usually is not in the scope of Enterprise 2.0. Some interpretations of the term “Enterprise 2.0” even go beyond the tool level, and focus on the structural changes in companies enabled by the introduction of social software.