Social networking is prevalent in many of our lives; from Twitter at work to Facebook (News - Alert) at home, it's becoming more and more essential as a means of communication, connecting us with the world and even keeping abreast of current events, from election protests to Conan O'Brien's status.
And, when CRM sales software, CRM cloud computing and customer service software provider Salesforce.com (News - Alert) released its Salesforce 'Chatter,' a new social networking application for the business world, call centers all over the country were connected by a Facebook-esque interface to communication.
Now, at Salesforce.com's (News - Alert)event, 'Cloudforce 2 Tour: NYC,' held today, April 8, 2010 in New York City, the company is expanding on its Chatter Beta and is introducing ChatterExchange, an accelerating AppExchange 2 with an entirely new category of social enterprise apps.
Salesforce.com's social site, which has seen quite a leap in users, is now attracting partnerships with more than 20 new applications going live today, including everything from financial applications for the platform to job recruiting apps.
In a press briefing yesterday, Salesforce.com officials told TMCnet that the new product announcements are a company-wide effort to 'chatterize' the company's CRM cloud computing platform, Force.com, to a Cloud 2 application.
Initially, the company released Chatter to test its low cost, fast and efficient desktop application. Now, after a few months in Beta, the company has extended the Salesforce Chatter private beta to approximately 500 companies, including 250 Service Cloud 2 customers, an effort to maximize its customer service software.
What's more, the company has also launched the AppExchange 2, with the ChatterExchange, a new category for social enterprise applications.
Reporting live on the train from NYC heading to the one-day event, I'll have more breaking news about this event live from the Salesforce.com Cloudforce 2 Tour in NYC.
Kelly McGuire is a TMCnet Web editor, covering CRM and workforce technologies, and anchor of its daily TMC Newsroom video broadcast. Kelly also writes about eco-friendly 'green' technologies and smart grids, compiling TMCnet's weekly e-Newsletters on those topics, as well as the cable industry. To read more of Kelly's articles, please visit her columnist page.