CorpComms Magazine

Social networking will replace emails as the primary vehicle for communications in one in every five businesses around the world, predicts IT research firm Gartner.

It claims that nearly half of all companies will start to use microblogging sites, such as Twitter, within two years. They will do so for the same reasons as their customers; to share quick insights, to keep up with colleagues, and to get quick answers to questions.

But Gartner warns that standalone sites are less likely to be successful, and will have less than five per cent penetration.

Jeffrey Mann, research vice president for Gartner, said: 'It will be very difficult for microblogging as a standalone function to achieve widespread adoption within the enterprise. Twitter's scale is one of the reasons for its popularity.'

Gartner believes that social networking will prove more effective than email for certain business activities, such as status updates and location.

But Gartner warned that more than 70 per cent of social networking initiatives will fail initially if they are led by an IT department accustomed to providing a technology platform, such as web conferencing. Instead, companies need to develop new skills and design social media solutions that target specific business value. It predicts 50 per cent of business-led social media initiatives will succeed.

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