Email has become an integral part of business over the last decade, likewise social networking has become an integral part of social life. Just alone Facebook and Twitter are adding millions of users every week. After becoming a part of out daily lives, Social Networking is now gaining popularity in our commercial lives too.
Social Networking Websites
By 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users. This is one of the 5 predictions for 2010 by Gartner, world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Matt Cain, research vice president at Gartner, went on to add, “The rigid distinction between e-mail and social networks will erode. E-mail will take on many social attributes, such as contact brokering while social networks will develop richer e-mail capabilities, while e-mail is already almost fully penetrated in the corporate space, we expect to see steep growth rates for Social Networking websites and cloud-based social networking services.”
However, the impact of social networking was realised few years back. In, 2008 at&t published a white paper entitled “The Business Impacts of Social Networking”. It discussed innumerable points of social networking that can impact corporate world, possible predictions, challenges, cautions etc.
Facts, figures, theories, rumours, predictions, all contribute to the increasing popularity of Facebook, Twitter and their competitors in corporate circles. A survey by Non Profit Technology Network (NTEN) showed that 86.2% of organizations have a commercial social network, 80.5% use them for marketing purposes, gaining them 61.1% of revenue. With increase in number of opportunities, guidelines and strategies, social networking is going to boom in Business world.
