CorpComms Magazine

Social networking will replace email as the primary channel for interpersonal communications for one fifth of businesses by 2014, according to IT analysts Gartner.

Newer employees enter the workforce with a predisposition to communicate via social networking sites.

Research vice president Monica Basso said that, in the past, companies had used structured applications, such as email, for communications, but the younger generation are more used to collaborative approaches.

'Social paradigms are converging with email, instant messaging presence, creating new collaboration styles,' she added. 'A truly collaborative, effective and efficient workplace will not arise until organisations make these capabilities widely available and users become more comfortable with them.'

Basso said that vendors, such as Microsoft and IBM, will add links that will allow services such as contacts, calendars and tasks shareable across email and social networks.

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