Using Facebook for Enterprise 2.0 ?

So...a company called Serena has adopted Facebook instead of an intranet. (Tip of beret* to Stowe Boyd for link)

Why?

They are going through a major transition as they move from more traditional enterprise applications to web 2.0 mashups. The leadership wanted all employees to be better connected so they could be on the same level of understanding, excitement, and commitment to this transition. They also thought that using a web 2.0 tool, like Facebook, represented the best way to take the whole company into this new space.

Like many companies their existing intranet was a poor platform for document finding, much less sharing.

OK, get that - and they felt that the intranet software wasn't doing it for them - but why Facebook? After all, its approach is famously clunky compared to email for fast low friction messaging.

Facebook, which is both free and a great example of web 2.0, seemed to be the right answer. They established a private Facebook group for Serena employees and they built a few simple custom Facebook apps to better enable intranet functions. Now they provide links through Facebook to documents stored securely behind the firewall. Access is just as secure as any other method. Serena employees go to specific people to get relevant information. For example, René and his staff provide press clippings and the HR people provide links to benefits information. In each case you learn about the people providing the information through their Facebook profiles, and not simply the content, itself.

Cough at Facebook Walled Garden being great example of Web 2.0, but get the picture - in essence, Web 2.0 functionality is very useful in Enterprise systems, traditional B2B suppliers don't have it, so you have to go to B2C platforms.

But, I do hope they've read the Facebook Terms and Conditions re data ownership, and are keeping abreast of how Facebook collects their data..........imho, unless they have already agreed all this with Facebook, then they are putting their company's data at considerable risk.

There are quite a few Open Source platforms that do this work, and you get to write your own T&C and data mining rules. Caveat Emptor, boys.........

* Stowe says its a cap on backward - coulda sworn....