Chapter 2. Introducing Lotus Connections 2.5

In Chapter 1, “Social Networking Concepts,” we examined what is meant by the term “social networking,” as well as how those concepts relate to business entities as opposed to the plethora of general social networking tools available on the Internet. Although many organizations see the innovative value of providing social networking tools to their employees or associates, most have found that the tools available for deployment within the enterprise are standalone systems that often require extensive customization in order to integrate with other tools that a company might acquire.

Lotus Connections provides core services found in other social software tools, such as blogging, social bookmarking, and ad-hoc communities of interest. However, Lotus Connections differentiates itself by providing facilities that are integrated with one another automatically. Although each Lotus Connections feature can stand on its own, when used in combination, the features provide a dynamic user experience that speed and improve the discovery and sharing of information.