Today I found very interesting article The business Value of Social Netwoking Applications.

This paper discusses the main features of enterprise social networks. One of the main author's ideas is that these integrated social network applications bring new value to the enterprise by linking individuals to each other and providing relevant content and tools across the organization. And this networking can extend beyond the firewall to engage partners and customers in the dialog. Then author shows the typical types and benefits of enterprise social networks. Strictly speaking social networks can be involved in the most of company business processes:

• Sales
• Marketing
• Development
• And so on

In spite of this article is sponsored by HiveLive – the company which promotes its own solution for enterprise social network – it is useful to read it. This paper gives the understanding why companies use social networks and forecasts common tendencies on this market.

I am watching the buzz around social network application platforms - Facebook, MySpace, and now - Google with OpenSocial. The idea seems to be brilliant, and it advances the web world. Moreover, it brings us new customers (I will not publish any names, but some of them are really well-known Facebook platform apps developers). We should be happy.

However there are also some menacing tendencies. Let's look what benefits OpenSocial gives to developers:

OpenSocial is a set of three common APIs, defined by Google with input from partners, that allow developers to access core functions and information at social networks:

• Profile Information (user data)
• Friends Information (social graph)
• Activities (things that happen, News Feed type stuff)

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/30/details-revealed-google-opensocial-to-be-common-apis-for-building-social-apps/

But what is about privacy? Google allows to gather together different information about users and this info may become as detailed as archives of secret special servies. When I write in one social network that, say, I am a guitar player, and I like to listen to Ramones, and write in another where I am working, and submit on Google to specific RSS feeds, I do not expect someone to glue these data together and use it to make money on me. What I want is to let other people with similar interests to find me. I do not want anyone to estimate my interests, my paying capacity, my information channels, and sell something based on this info.

Just wondering whether they regulate it in some way? If not, some time later social networking industry may face the problem that people remove accounts or stop leaving personal information.