biznik
Have you heard of BizNik? It is YASNS, for business folks. Their homepage promotional banner declares that using their site you can “build relationships, promote your business and share your experience!” and these 3 basic actions resonate remarkable well with what we’re seeing on Beehive, inside of IBM.

We conducted a study of why people at IBM are using Beehive and our analysis reveals that workers differ from typical users of Internet social network sites, who have been shown to use SNSs primarily for keeping up with off-line friends (see boyd & Ellison, 2008). Within the walled garden of the enterprise, where there is a higher level of trust and an emphasis on work, IBM employees choose to reach out and meet new people rather than only connecting to those they know. They also share details of their life outside of work (”share your experience”) which has not been found with any frequency in other enterprise social software tools . And lastly, if motivated by career advancement goals or a desire to champion a project idea, they use the social network site strategically to connect (”build relationships”) and spread their message to a large audience (”promote your business”).