Microsoft Shows Off Intra-Enterprise Social Network

Microsoft's Office Labs operation has been testing a prototype internal social network that can provide company-wide information by drawing from a Sharepoint server.Developed at the request of the Sharepoint and Office development teams, Microsoft launched the social network -- called TownSquare -- in January, and has already attracted 8,000 internal users. TownSquare uses Web services to pull public employee information from Sharepoint, such as promotions and anniversaries, as well as information about when documents are modified. The results are displayed on a Facebook Feeds-style page. Users can customize their feeds and monitor who is reading their information.

Some Microsoft customers are already testing TownSquare for their own use. No plans for public availability have been announced.Computerworld