A Facebook of their own

In Cambridge, Microsoft and IBM are at work developing software so companies can run secure in-house social networks

September 05, 2011|By D.C. Denison, Globe Staff

(Illustration by Laurent…)

Microsoft and IBM, two of the world’s most established technology companies, have developers in Massachusetts building the companies’ own versions of one of the Internet’s newest giants: Facebook.

Both are creating social networks that companies could own and use within their offices, rather than have employees chatting with each other on the uncontrolled online landscape that Facebook has become.

The companies both have teams in Kendall Square in Cambridge - so close to each other that they are probably checking in at the same pizza spots on Foursquare.com.

And both sometimes refer to their projects as “creating a Facebook for business,’’ but they are more complicated than that. The companies are incorporating the features people expect on their favorite social networking sites - from the ability to post comments to “liking’’ projects to sharing documents and photos - in the complex suites of office software they sell to businesses.

“Social networking is a key strategic angle for both IBM and Microsoft,’’ said Rob Koplowitz, an analyst with Forrester Research in Cambridge. “Both companies want to social-network your world.’’

Koplowitz said the two companies are also “under a lot of pressure to keep up with the consumer market, where social networking is very hot.’’

The two venerable companies must also keep a wary eye on aggressive small competitors such as Jive Software Inc. and Yammer Inc., which also offer businesses products to create social networks for employees.

“The time clock in social networking runs very fast,“ Koplowitz said. “If Twitter or Jive adds a cool feature and it takes you years to catch up, you’ll be left behind.’’

Microsoft’s social networking efforts are centered around its SharePoint enterprise software.

SharePoint, introduced in 2001, was originally designed to enable companies to set up websites to share information inside and outside of the firm, and to manage documents and publish reports. But Microsoft has been rapidly adding social software features to SharePoint, including with a major upgrade in 2010. The software now promises to enable blogging, personal profile pages, tagging, wikis, and Twitter-like activity streams.

IBM’s social networking ambitions are pinned on IBM Connections, a software package it first issued in 2007 that allows users to create home pages, profile pages, blogs, and wikis - online encyclopedias that can be continually updated by users. Last month, IBM launched companion applications, or apps, for the program that allows users to access the software’s features from their Apple Inc. iPhones and iPad tablet computers, and mobile devices that run Google Inc.’s Android operating software.