Nice June 24, 2008 feature in the New York Times: Preoccupations- I Freed Myself from Emails Grip with an interview of how Luis Suarez of IBM cut the cycles of email by 80% in one week using Social Networking to enhance the experience of global communications, reducing the one way, inefficient methods with a much more efficient way to stay connected.

Viewed in this way, social networking delivers something way more than for entertainment value, transforming team activity, communications, and yes, for all the added touch, for FYI details, it is a very efficient way of creating a way to keep in touch that is "greener" because it does not need to be stored on a hundred separate email servers, it can be conveniently housed by RSS feed, where those interested can control their subscription and better manage information overload.

Social Networking is serious business in it's efficiency and useful value in getting to know one another. Recently I have discovered that "brainstorming" with the universe of common interests is way more interesting than waiting on a muse, and many folks that are participating on the network are also looking for similar experiences, so the very notion of asking a question, answered on a public forum creates a useful business function in and of itself.

PLAYERS THAT ENABLE EFFICIENCY: Twitter, Feedburner, RSS, Ning, Instant Message, Skype Video/IM/Call, LinkedIn.

INNOVATORS THAT CAPTIVATE AND INNOVATE WITH SOCIAL NETWORKING WILL CONSIDER:

1. Broader "inbound" Address Book Import and Sync capabilities. (Plaxo for mid sized networks).
2. REAL scalable functionality such popularity of the tool doesn't affect it's performance.
3. Lighter Mobile Packages allow a minimal approach to functional interaction. (Twitter)
4. Subscription Profiling with Tags, "one login, to many interests" (Ning)
5. Repurpose that RSS Feed. (Feedburner, RSS, Twitter Innovation Tools, Technorati).

Dawn on LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/dmular

At Sun, nearly 19,000 employees around the world work from home or in a flexible office, representing more than 56% of Sun's employee population.

Sort of a nod on "this day" June 12 to Shez, one of my favorite and sharing IT Service Management Minds. Shez, we might not talk as much as I like, but whenever we do happen to cross paths, you have nothing short of brilliance to share.

Talking in a best practices community on ITIL, many of us agree that while ITIL v3 is much improved from v2, that alone will not suffice, and in fact now the need for governance to define how we collaborate is more important than ever.

I was pleased to find Shez had a similar view on . The most important notion of the architecture for how to plan for change while managing the current run rate remains, new requirements and opportunities continue, and IT collaboration with business is more important than ever, but most positive results can be expected when we get down to the business of organizing our strategy around managing our base services plus any uplevels.

It may take a while to get mainstream understanding but ITIL V3 does represent progress because it improves the notion of how IT works with the business a Shez describes it, as an "eco-system"

There is a whole lot more we can do when realizing our connection to an environment and business community much beyond that which we do day to day.. In fact, I think we should make it a practice of discipline that we try to keep learning to see things from others point of view, and from a continuous process improvement point of view, to really stay aware of how and what we deliver together.

We have invested in a team that will look for the good.. the better working relationships, the open partnerships, the ability to do, to be, and to serve in the best way possible. We will look to a new accounting team to help us to define the real potential from the noise. The fear factor, from the fruit.

In IT, we WANT to be your heroes. To really be of service, we must transcend hero mode to improve our practice! We do more with technology than has been done before. Embrace Change-- 'configuration' include transformation and people, with the organic knowledge they carry. Stop acting on assumption that if we Plan and Organize to do something, it will be architect - ed to deliver continuous support for as long as the project lives.

Perfection is in awareness, balance, and appropriate execution. I have been at Sun long enough to see the metamorphic use of technology for good.. "Technology because we can.. Technology because it's cool. Technology because we must. Technology for business good."

Where have we allowed arcane policy to obscure the business value proposition of eco-business? Where have we allowed marketing buzz to hypnotize us into consumption without critical thinking.. Let's "get green" seems to suggest a notion of going out and buying all new stuff to satisfy a whole new market demand of clearer thinking. "That's not green. That's a little more like insanity."