Social Networking Idea, thoughts?

[closedbook]

hello,

I am thinking about going forth with a sort of social networking idea. The idea stems from the fact that there is a lack of unity and rapport among the different departments in the company I work for. Since I just started a couple of weeks ago, I find myself not knowing who to contact for specific issues. I would ask my supervisor for an answer, but he would then tell me to talk to so and so and so forth. So when I had a problem, I really didn't know who to talk to for an answer. Right now I am in the idea stages and haven't gone too deep into it. Just wanted to get some feedback to see if it could be a viable business.

So the idea is this: a social networking-communication software suite that improves productivity and supports rapport among employees. The customer would be companies with at least 100 employees (or a point where there would be too many people to know) This solution would be hosted on the customer's servers so it would be closedbooksolution.customerdomainname.com. It would be completely branded for the customer, devoid ads, and would include a (hopefully) internal email replacement, IM, and profile pages. These profile pages will have information such as bio, education, previous work, what their work involves, their department, and an area "ask me questions regarding these issues." At my company, we also have a listserv where we ask each other for random knowledge or to borrow things. I think the social networking solution should have a section for other interests as well.

Business model would be to charge companies depending on how many employees they have. I am sure companies would be willing to pay for increased productivity and unity among their employees.

I know that larger social networking sites are better poised to do this, but if they were going to do this why haven't they done so already? They already have the user base and the technology. I think it is because everyone is so focused on being an advertising platform that they fail to realize a potential market.

What are your thoughts?

[JLeezer]

Deloitte has something very similar to this that we used for internal knowledge management. It actually had several pieces. One was a knowledge database that housed a lot of the documents and deliverables created by everyone in the company. The next was a database of our people, searchable by a lot of different criteria ranging from specific title, experience in any of the industries and sectors Deloitte serves, location, etc. Those are the only two that are coming to mind right now that have relevance to what you're talking about, but if I think of more, I'll post them as well.

[closedbook]

Jon,

Thanks for the feedback. I truly believe that the most value social networking has to offer is internally for businesses.

[EasyAutoSales]

A social network to increase productivity? Sounds like an oxymoron. Chances are, your company already has scheduled outings and company days that would allow you to meet more people in the company if you're not a social butterfly - if not you will eventually meet everyone you need to meet as it becomes necessary, it will just take some time.

[akula]

the venture community has looked at corporate social networking for a long time. after many failed upstarts like visiblepath and selectminds, it's my understanding that interest in this space is wearing thin. it seems that the products simply aren't getting any traction.