Enterprise social networks for internal communication and collaboration

Nowadays, numerous social networks are used to communicate and to exchange information quickly and easily. While social networks have long been limited to communication and organization of private life, they are also becoming increasingly important in the business sector. So far, there have been a clear focus on marketing and sales support, but more and more companies are using enterprise social networks as communication platforms in order to optimize internal collaboration. The resulting applications have an impact on working conditions, value creation processes and corporate cultures. In this paper, first results of an empirical survey are presented. It shows how German companies make use of enterprise social networks and presents opportunities and risks from the perspective of practitioners. In addition, success factors for the implementation of enterprise social networks are analyzed.