FreshNetworks Blog

The way we consume information is fundamentally shifting towards an ‘always-on’ world where our mobile phones are the first port of call for access to the web.

Techcrunch stated that in February 2011, just under 14% of access to their site was on a mobile device -  up 702% from February 2009. Add this to the fact that Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo, recently said that 40% of all Tweets are now composed on mobile devices (up from around 20% in 2010) and we begin to get a pretty clear picture of the way mobile is impacting social media.

Indeed, more research has suggested that the number of people accessing social media services from their phones in the US alone will rise by 20% annually between now and 2015.

The implications of this shift for the social media industry are huge. With consumption increasingly becoming mobile-centric it is vital to design campaigns and sites around this format. People should be able to engage with brands from within the mobile environment with as little need to go ‘online’ as possible.

The social web is connected to the real world even more ; people are Tweeting, using Facebook, and taking film and photos on the go more than ever, and they are sharing them live and in real-time from portable, mobile devices.

Social media is not just about conversations; it’s also about collaboration.With this in mind we thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the most well known collaboration tools on the market at the moment.

Much like our list of social media management tools wiki, this is an ongoing project, so if you know of any others please let us know so we can add them to the list.

• Adobe Acrobat – Acrobat.com allows teams to work collaboratively on documents through their browsers. Options for web conferencing and screen-sharing provide additional communication channels.
• Atlassian Confluence – offers a powerful wiki-based solution to enterprise collaboration. Content can be simply dragged and dropped from the desktop to the platform, eliminating the need for keeping track of attachments sent via email.
• Basecamp – collaborative messaging and file sharing. Project management can be easily tracked with milestones and deadlines, and templates for saving time with common projects. Campfire by Basecamp implements real time chat for collaboration.
• Broadvision Clearvale – a Cloud-based platform that can be established without the need for any additional IT resources.
• Colaab – offer real time browser based collaboration by allowing annotations to appear simultaneously on other collaborator’s screens. A “DeepZoom” feature allows work and annotation to take place on very specific areas of large images, such as design documents.
• Chatter – provided by Salesforce and free for existing customers. It allows communication and sharing of projects by employees from their browsers, desktops or mobile devices.
• Google Documents – simultaneous editing of files makes Google Docs ideal for students and other casual collaborative groups. The upgraded Google Apps version offers additional security options for business.
• Huddle - project management and collaboration software that allows you to connect, share and invite people to work on projects.
• Sharepoint – provides a single platform for employees to work collaboratively through various methods such as wikis and work flows. Personal profiles allow a team to better understand each other’s skills, experience and interests.
• Socialcast – allows employees to discuss projects remotely through a microblogging service, which is also accessible from a smartphone. The Town Hall extension enables discussion between executives and employees.
• Socialtext – uses a Facebook-like interface and claims to increase typically increase productivity by 20% or more.
• Tibbr – uses a design that is familiar to Facebook users, providing an intuitive experience. One key feature is the ability for employees to follow subjects, to stay informed on news and developments in their area of business.
• Wiggio – a free service that simplifies keeping track of multiple groups. Collaboration on documents, polls, and communication by text are some of the offered services.
• Yammer – enables companies to create their own private social network, requiring a company email address to access the community.
• Zoho – a large variety of collaborative and sharing tools for individuals, groups and businesses.

(NB: The power of online collaboration is perhaps best exemplified by Wikipedia. The Wiki platform is a great collaboarative tool, but as there are so many versions and uses it’s quite difficult to cover them all).

Added since the post was originally written:

• Sosius – a hosted online workspace, accessible from any PC or Mac, that lets you create and collaborate and share.
• nu+/Yooplus – a team collaboration and social software platform for the SME market.
• Podio – a collaboration platform with  a new and radical take on work tools: you build it yourself.
• Teamlab – enterprise collaboration, project management, document sharing and instant messaging solution.
• Wikispaces – wikis for organisations, individuals and groups to enable online sharing and collaboration.
• Offbureau – Offbureau fuses on-line collaboration, document management, and a social network.
• Open Atrium – drupal based team collaboration tool.
• Episerver relate – collaboration and community software. Also turns out-of-date intranets into a social community where employees collaborate and share information.
• FYMI – a private collaboration site where you can store and share information securely and sustainably with your team.