No other microblogging software offers the depth of data that Social Business Intelligence® provides. Our analytics are designed to measure the previously immeasurable aspects of a network, such as important discussions, informal relationships and influential individuals, through quantitative data.

Social Business Intelligence® isn’t just about tracking basic signup, usage and posting statistics. Instead, the platform will tell you – in real time – the topics, people, groups and conversations that are promoting active use of your community. At the same time, it will show you the passive usage and “listening” behavior of members, demonstrating the value that newer or less vocal employees are gleaning from the network.

At the center of Social Business Intelligence® is the conversation. The tool tracks the movement of information between people, teams, and departments. It keeps a pulse on the data that’s generated by members, exposing the most important topics as identified by a workforce. With real-time access to the front lines of the company, management can instantaneously understand what’s happening in the business.

Social Business Intelligence® also seeks to tackle the challenge of participation inequality – the principle that in a social community, approximately 90% of users do not contribute. Our analytics track data about what topics and which employees help transition inactive users into more active participants with the goal of creating more participation and active listening. With this information, companies can drive adoption by making meaningful conversations more prominent in the network, or by formally empowering socially influential employees to onboard or teach new users.

Social Business Intelligence™ is available now – details of the platform are available here.

With all the reading and watching I have been doing in San Francisco at Socialcast, I wanted to ask some people who work both in education and the corporate world exactly how they use social media. I have been giving examples of why and how to use social media in the workplace, but the employees at Socialcast have essentially been using new media since their school days. I understand that every workplace is different and has different needs, so I wanted to branch out to learn how non-technical employees in academia use social tools at universities and in their business roles. The media can tell me what percentage of the population is on a social networking site, but they cannot tell me how it is being used.

Using LinkedIn and Santa Clara’s email address book, I was able to track down two professors at Santa Clara that I know actively use social media. I wanted to ask these professionals how they effectively use social media to do work.

Terri L. Griffith, PhD is a Professor of Management at Santa Clara. She teaches Organizational Analysis and Design, Technology and Innovation Management, Managing Innovation and Change. She writes her own blog about technology and how it is used within teams and full organizations.  When I asked what social media sites and tools she uses, she said Twitter, Facebook, tools from Google and a variety of wiki providers.

Griffith uses social media consistently for classes. “I use Twitter to be ready for class topics, find new blog ideas,” she said. “I’ve used the wiki sites to run class presentations and real time conference collaborations.” The speed of communication allows her to coordinate more efficiently than with previous technology.

Professor Chuck Byers is a Marketing Communications Executive and lecturer at Santa Clara University. I know him as my public relations professor, however, he has worked in the semi-conductor industry managing global marketing since 1995.  He is using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and writes a blog that focuses on B2B marketing.

Although he uses multiple social networking sites, it seems that Twitter is the social media tool that brings the most value to him. “The PR agency of one of the companies I consult with uses Twitter to alert the media to news release that just crossed the wire. That has paid dividends with a couple of editors calling and asking for interview follow-ups,” Byers said.

Twitter has also opened new lines of communication with editors that weren’t available to him before. “I have always had a policy of not annoying editors with phone call asking if they got a news release and if they planned to do anything with it,” he said. “Being able to Tweet an editor with simple, “you may want to check out the latest news about XYZ Company at this URL” is effective and appreciated by the editors.

Byers sees social media as a necessary tool in the communications industry. “I think we need to go and need to be where are constituencies go.  If important audiences are using Twitter to point people to a site that may have unfavorable comments about our companies, we need to know about it and be proactive.  I don’t think it is a matter of choice.  Social media … depending how you define it … is part of our constituencies’ workplaces.  To ignore it is to do so at our own peril,” Byers said.

I think it’s important that professors who also understand the workplace are embracing and teaching social media to today’s college students. My dad is Tweeting, my mom is on Facebook and my 80 year old Grandma IM’ed me on Yahoo messenger today. Employers from past jobs have asked me to help them learn social media because they know that it is a force to be reckoned with. College students are the driving force behind many social networking sites even as the rest of the population begins to adopt these tools. Byers’ and Griffith’s ability to understand the importance of social media in their professions has helped them to be successful in the classroom and in the corporate workplace at the same time.

The expanded view is a great way to read entire conversations and understand the context in which they’re discussed.

The list view makes it simple to quickly take stock of the main topics in the network, taking up less real estate on your screen to provide you with high-level details. You can still expand this view to read comments, or simply hover over a user avatar to see what he or she has written.

You can toggle between these views by clicking on the list icon at the top left corner of your stream. 

We’re interested in how you like these new views – so email us at carrie@socialcast.com to give your feedback!

Note: This is an entry in a series of blog posts written about entering and the workforce as a member of Gen Y. These posts focus on Socialcast intern Margo Consul’s first-hand experience in a social-media-rich landscape that shapes the way new employees interact with their colleagues and customers.

As a new employee to the workforce, it seems to me that there’s a sizeable group of employees that has been hesitant about using social media at work.  I think that it’s the word “social” that seems to imply that these methods of communication have no intrinsic value. So, I propose a challenge to those that are still hesitant towards using social media:

Don’t focus on the term “social,” – focus on the instant communication and the consistent flow of information that these sites make available so you can do your job better.

My parents have always had a conservative approach to social media, and I believe that there are many with their viewpoint today. Like any concerned parent, my mom took to heart the stories about online predators out to get her kids and cyber-bullying. My dad was always concerned about privacy and putting too much information on the Internet. These are the tainted images that many people still have about social media.

I didn’t understand the negative perceptions of the social websites when they were first gaining popularity; to me they were a way to communicate with my friends on multiple levels. I could send them messages, share photos of us and always be clued into what they were thinking by reading their blogs. What we talked about wasn’t necessarily of great importance, but the sites provided a way to connect faster and use less effort than email.

Recently, I have learned that yes, these sites are social, but you can manipulate them to be more than just a place to post photos and pass the time. I have used the status update box in Facebook as a way to ask general questions about events at Santa Clara or tips for finding articles for a research paper. The question is broadcasted to a much larger network than your closest friends. I do the same thing at work inside our Socialcast community when I need help with a project.

I have also used the update box as a way to draw attention to accomplishments I want people to see. I attach links to my recent articles in the school paper or my newest blog post.  Down the road, archiving these will help me show future employers my portfolio over time.

Turn these techniques on their head and companies and their employees can use them to announce a new product, get instant feedback by asking for suggestions and post links to their websites. The ideas of exchanging information over time, space, knowing what people are thinking, reading, working on and always being connected is at the root of the social media phenomenon.  Few can argue that this isn’t a benefit at work. To the naysayers, I urge you to use these platforms as a way to connect faster, gain information, and communicate better with those around you – you will become quickly adept and enthralled as long-time users like me.

Microblogging is a great way to facilitate conversation, collaboration, and idea-sharing in the Enterprise. Companies living on the edge of technology have used Socialcast to flatten the organizational hierarchy and break down communication silos that squash both lateral and vertical information flow.  Everyone’s voice can be heard – which is exactly what microblogging was designed to do.

But at some point, in the enterprise, some messages need to ring a little louder to rise above the noise. That’s why Socialcast has altered the paradigm by launching the industry-first Broadcast Message tool – a feature that allows leaders to send special announcements to an entire network immediately. Until now, all microblogging tools have treated all messages in the network with equal importance. The VP of Finance’s budget update gets mixed in with the new employee’s question about overtime. This can make it challenging to find time-sensitive, critical information from corporate leadership in an efficient manner.

We realized that while Socialcast helps flatten the organizational hierarchy, the chain of command still needs to be respected. Our most successful communities thrive due to leadership participation, and our new Broadcast Message feature gives leaders the power to elevate and prioritize critical messages to their entire network instantly. Early testing in more than 30 communities has brought to light a myriad of potential uses, including:

• Emergency alerts at University campuses that require faculty awareness and frequent updates
• Monthly “Message from the CEO” previously sent via email
• High-level promotion announcements
• Congratulating a team or task force on a major accomplishment, such as exceeding fundraising goals or finishing the budget

Broadcast messages may be sent by network administrators only. Once posted, the message is highlighted in every network member’s stream prominently. This also triggers an email alert with the message URL, prompting each employee to read the message.  

Current Socialcast clients can go to “Admin” in the top navigation bar and then click “Send Broadcast Message” in the right hand navigation bar to access the feature.

Socialcast is always looking to innovate on its product and how we bring value to the Enterprise. So – how are you using the Broadcast Message feature to innovate at your company? We want to know. Email us at info@socialcast.com to tell us your story.

This week, the Socialcast team experienced the foggy, windy summer weather that San Francisco was rumored to bring. We knew that the sun and mid-70s of our first few weeks here were abnormal, and this week, we were greeted with gray skies and misty mornings. That didn’t stop us from pushing out new features, however. Here’s an overview of recent changes made to Socialcast.

What’s New

Desktop App Enhancements: Our desktop app now allows you to share a message with your groups as well as view individual streams. Both of these functions are enabled with a drop down menu. Logging in is now also easier – use your email address and password for your network instead of your community’s URL.

Custom Twitter Hashtags: Import select tweets using a custom hashtag. We realize that tags take up precious real estate in your tweets, so customize the tag to be anything you want. Click on “Import Site” in your network to create your custom tag.

What You Requested

Custom Terms and Privacy Policies: We both know that legal teams like policies, so we’ve enabled each company to create custom Terms of Service and a Privacy Policy that each member must agree to upon signing up. This is a FREE feature and the administrator can create these policies at any time.

Community Message and Data Export: We believe that since a company owns the data inside its network, the company should be able to export messages from the network at any time. You’ve asked for this too, and we listened. Administrators can now export all messages inside a network for FREE. Request an export in the Admin panel and within an hour, you’ll receive an email message with a link to your network’s aggregated data.

What’s Coming Soon

Broadcast Message Feature: Important announcements from leadership are key to keeping tabs on the pulse of the company. Next week, we’ll release a new tool that fills this need.

Did You Know?

Did you know that once you’ve claimed your Socialcast network (which is free to do), Administrators can add external members to the network by invitation? Some companies elect to invite consultants, customers and board members to their network to participate. Our tool permits this for all claimed networks, making it free and simple to communicate with people outside of your domain. At the same time, since only site Administrators have this ability, the company still has control over network access.

Note: This is the first in a series of blog posts written about entering and the workforce as a member of Gen Y. These posts will focus on Socialcast intern Margo Consul’s first-hand experience in a social-media-rich landscape that shapes the way new employees interact with their colleagues and customers.

As the newest and youngest member of the Socialcast team, I’ll be regularly blogging about my relationship with social media and the workplace. I will begin my last year at Santa Clara University in the fall and I am currently a full time intern with Socialcast. This is my first leap into the corporate world, and I’ll be focusing on what it’s like to enter the workforce with Web 2.0 tools as the norm.

I feel that I started with seems like archaic ways of communication, then adapted to new technology as it arrived and have just now surpassed the generation before me in technological aptitude. The adaptation has been constant and was taught through trial and error because unlike learning how to write or play a sport, no one before me knew how to use social media tools.

The only time I can remember my parents and teachers being involved in my technological education was when it came to learning how to type on the keyboard in elementary school. I had typing classes because, according to the teachers, it was a skill that I was going to need and it was all about speed. Typing was not my specialty at the tender age of ten. However, my family wanted to make sure that I didn’t fall behind, so they bought games that rewarded me for being able to type quickly without looking at the keyboard in hopes of bringing up my words per minute.

Fortunately, instant messaging came along and chatting with my friends for a few hours every night increased my typing speed to instantaneous communication status.

When email, AIM, texting, blogging and internet use on cell phones came along, I remember hearing about it from friends and then having to explain its awesomeness (and legitimacy) to my parents, so that I could participate.

Figuring out each new technology felt like an accomplishment and a necessity to keep up with my peers, it was always about being faster and newer than the version before.

I’ll never forget my freshman orientation day at Santa Clara University and hearing the orientation leaders talking about this site called Facebook. I had just figured out MySpace, blogging, and the concept of an online profile. I thought “great, another thing I need to learn to be in the loop.” Just a few short years later, I am active on all of the major sites: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter and I cannot count how many hours have been spent using them as procrastination tools and sources of self- entertainment.

However, recently my ”fun” sites have been turned into something useful and productive for my professional life. Who would have thought that platforms like Facebook or Twitter could actually have productive qualities to them? I never would have thought of the ability to post a status as a) a skill or b) productive.

Now there are jobs specifically for the use of social media, such as Manager of Emerging Technology, Enterprise Innovation, Manager of Digital Media and simply Social Media Strategist. I have applied for internships that asked me list and include links to social media sites I have profiles on. What started for me as “friends only” tools quickly became much more. Not only have businesses used social networking sites as a form of marketing, they are now adopting the format as a way to do work as opposed to a way for their employees to put off work. This is the new reality of Gen Y entering the workplace. It’s like the Baby Boomers have hacked into the Generation Y online space and are changing its function and purpose. Once again, Generation Y has to adapt to keep up with the evolution…but only after Generation Y teaches the Baby Boomers how to use it…

The Socialcast team has finally settled into our new San Francisco office in the eclectic and vibrant neighborhood of South Park in the SOMA district. Our building is an open, airy and unique space that was designed to be a dishwasher manufacturing company about a century ago. This week, we’ve been working on cutting the number of clicks that users must make when finding information inside Socialcast. Here’s an update with some new features along those lines, as well as several others.

What’s New

Mini Profiles: Hover over a user’s avatar in any stream to see a small profile appear with his or her basic details.

Follow Users from the Stream: The new mini profile allows you to follow a new user directly from the stream.

Both of these features were designed to give you information on colleagues without having to leave the stream to visit a profile.

What You Requested

Linked Hashtags: When you use a hashtag in a message, it will become a search link once posted. Clicking on the link will find all messages with the same tag as well as messages that are related.

Edit Comments: Employees can now edit not only message contents, but also comments that they have left as well.

Share to Groups: You can now share a message directly to a Group from your Live Stream. Use the new drop down menu to select the recipients of your message.

New Member Auto Follow: New members now have the option of automatically following everyone in the network upon registration.

What’s Coming Soon

Desktop App Enhancements: You will soon be able to post to a group from your desktop app, as well as filter messages with more options.

Custom Twitter Hashtags: For employees wishing to only import selected tweets, you will be able to create a custom hashtag of any length that, when included in the tweet, imports it into Socialcast.

What’s Top Secret

We have two features in beta that are ready to test. If you’re a current Socialcast customer, and you’d like access to them, please email me at carrie@socialcast.com for the opportunity. Both are designed to eliminate even more email than any of our other features. Intrigued? Let us know you’re interested!

Welcome to the freedom of Enterprise 2.0.

This weekend, we celebrated Independence Day in the United States. In July of 1776, our forefathers set America on a path to freedom from oppressive regulations on trade, manufacturing, and political liberty. America took control of its own destiny, and it’s time for you to do the same.

Today, we urge companies that use Enterprise microblogging tools to begin a new revolution. This is a call to liberate your organization from oppressive pricing and data-ownership regulations.

In the past few weeks, some of our competitors have announced new business models that only include a few users for free, while others have increased pricing by 300% overnight while also being the subject of debate about reputation in the Web 2.0 world. At the same time, Socialcast announced a free version of its collaboration tool for the Enterprise.

The fact of the matter is that your company has a choice as to which Enterprise microblogging tool it uses. There are dozens of options on the market, both free and paid. But why would you allow your vendor of choice to triple your costs simply to own and access your company’s data?

Let’s revive the spirit of the Colonials who initiated the 1773 Boston Tea Party, where masses of angry American settlers protested unfair taxation on their tea by the British government. Instead of accepting the highly taxed tea, they dumped it overboard to show their distaste for taxation without representation. Today, we encourage you to assume the spirit of the early Americans. They didn’t accept unfair prices, and neither should you or your business.

Isn’t it about time that you threw your expensive Enterprise microblogging tool overboard?

Join the Enterprise 2.0 revolution and stop paying ridiculous prices for your corporate collaboration tools!