"Facebook" at work

Looks like you'll see more people goofing off at work with IBM's new social networking software for Lotus.

From the WSJ: IBM unveiled social-networking software that works like Web sites such as Facebook but is safe enough for corporate use. At a meeting of its Lotus software customers Monday, IBM unveiled a suite of software products called Lotus Connections that includes software for posting personal profiles, Web logs, or blogs, and lists of Web bookmarks and will allow for creating online communities and online work collaboration.

The Connections suite will compete with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows SharePoint Services, a five-year-old product with 85 million users that added social-networking features in its latest version, unveiled in November. Peter O'Kelly, research director for collaboration with Burton Group who was briefed on the product plan, said "this is going to start the next chapter of competition between IBM and Microsoft for the hearts of information workers."

Steven Mills, IBM's senior vice president who heads the software group, said, "We've been pleasantly surprised by how well this has resonated with corporate buyers." He said many companies have seen employees start using free Web-based social-networking software because it makes it easy to share information with colleagues.

WSJ