I really love where the guys at Microsoft Research are going with their Social Toolbar. If this could be extrapolated towards Sharepoint 2010. Now that would make me go *WOW* on a corporate level. But would you still be able to call that Social?

The downloadable gizmo called the Social Web Experience Toolbar installs in your Internet Explorer browser. You can hook it up to Twitter and Facebook and it will analyze your webpage to show you relevant content from both Twitter and Facebook.

When it gets it right it will seriously enhance the content of a page you're browsing. Boxed and underscored words give pop-ups showing the content from the added social sites. The strong dependency on language analysis does create some interesting combinations. Eg. Launching of HD television channels is combined with a Tweet about Jay Leno. But all-in-all it's worth adding, even if it does slow your browser the teensiest bit. :-)

The picture below gives you an idea what it will do to your browser window and overall experience.

But this also makes me go *WOW* on a corporate level. So what's up with that?

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Social is the newest hype in Enterprise-land. It definitely has potential to add to your business value. Microsoft's Sharepoint 2010 platform claims to be Social but as I watch the promotional video I'm wondering: Are we really grasping what Social is all about?

After watching the demo video on the Microsoft Sharepoint 2010 site I'm left with some contradictory sentiments. Are we really grasping what Social is all about? 

Job == you?

There are a lot of valid reasons to want to jump onto the Social bandwagon, but the demo gives the impression that Social is just a set of tools, designed to add business value. In fact, the entire demo shows us a scenario that puts the Enterprise at the center of the employees world. I love it when my bosses think that to be true but lets be honest: is job=you a realistic assumption to make?

It's noble if you want to get the internet Social inside corporate barriers, but.There are restrictions on business social sites that aren't there on the internet. Even if you're not restricting in any way, it's still the boss who's looking in. And if your enterprise culture is one of "checking up your neighbor" creating a carefree innovation platform might involve a lot more than just deploying a technological solution.

You may think this doesn't apply to your company but have you checked? Assumptions need to be tested. The time spent on such an evaluation delivers its RoI with a swifter implementation and acceptance of your Social environment. It will help you to invest in what's needed and to make the most of what's already available.

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Whenever I hear some-one talk about "getting rid of our <partition name>-Disk" using Sharepoint Server it always carries a sense of "impending doom". Combine it with statements such as "put everything in a DMS" or something as vague as "a Collaboration environment" and I can predict the tsunami you might be facing. Awareness of your Enterprise's Organic nature will greatly benefit your Sharepoint implementations. This article describes what I consider to be the organic Enterprise and how this translates to Sharepoint "Scenario's of doom". Solutions to these scenario's will be discussed in future articles.

First, you're consideration of Sharepoint for any of these ambitions isn't wrong. Sharepoint can replace partition, it can function as storage for important documents and it can support collaboration. The problems usually stem from an over-simplified perspective of how your Enterprise functions and what Sharepoint actually does with your Enterprise.

Information Overload by default?

What you'll essentially achieve by using Sharepoint is to disclose all information via a web browser interface.

You'll be able to search everything. and you'll find absolutely nothing. Not without a plan that is. Digitalizing every little scrap of information people own is going to drown out what's really important. You won't be diminishing the information overload, you'll be adding to it.

Let me explain myself further.

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Hello reader!

Welcome to yet another blog on Microsoft-stuff.

Am I being too ambitious if I think I have something valuable to add to the blogoverse? Only time will tell if that's a misconception or not. ;-)

If you feel a need to read something About me, feel free to click here!

The concept is quite simple:

I talk about stuff I find interesting, related to Microsoft products and technology. Topics may vary from code to business values and solution architectures.

I've added some categories to make reading this blog easier if you're not interested in everything I have to say (can't blame you, I talk a lot, filters are necessary!).

If I've missed a crucial category or if you need to set me straight on anything, please feel free to use the Contact form or post a comment. I promise I'll try and be a good girl and answer within a week. :-)

Thanks for visiting and I hope you'll enjoy!

Marleen Nederlof

Hello reader!

Welcome to yet another blog on Microsoft-stuff.

Am I being too ambitious if I think I have something valuable to add to the blogoverse? Only time will tell if that's a misconception or not. ;-)

If you feel a need to read something About me, feel free to click here!

The concept is quite simple:

I talk about stuff I find interesting, related to Microsoft products and technology. Topics may vary from code to business values and solution architectures.

I've added some categories to make reading this blog easier if you're not interested in everything I have to say (can't blame you, I talk a lot, filters are nescessary!).

If I've missed a crucial category or if you need to set me straight on anything, please feel free to use the Contact form or post a comment. I promiss I'll try and be a good girl and answer within a week. :-)

Thanks for visiting and I hope you'll enjoy!

Marleen Nederlof