Enterprise cloud computing solutions provider Salesforce.com (News - Alert) announced significant enhancements to Salesforce.com Chatter in the winter 2011 release.

Chatter from Salesforce.com is a collaboration application for the enterprise to connect and share information securely with people at work in real time.

With new features, Salesforce.com Chatter eases user adoption while adding significant search and recommendations to the business-class social media platform, according to company officials.

Important enhancements for Chatter in the winter  2011 release include the ability to filter the Chatter stream according to groups, opportunities and cases. It also adds Facebook (News - Alert)-like recommendations for people and groups to follow in the social media platform.

The new Chatter application comes with a “What to do Next” feature designed to help novice users of social media. 

The “What to do Next” feature box is a well-designed, simple tool that provides quick guide to using Chatter. Users will be able to use the short video and all of the tips in under 15 minutes.

The new feature is available at no extra subscription charge for all editions. Organizations can add Chatter-only users for $15 per month per user.

The Winter 11 release “fulfills the requirements for a business-class communication tool that can be securely and reliably used to promote social interaction without losing control of the business opportunities that are the subject of conversation,” according to Cameron Sturdevant of eWeeek.com.

In its new version Chatter supports hash tags. This feature, along with the newly added filters, makes it easier to find all chats that meet a specific condition. Chatter stream is also included in Salesforce search.

This, according to Sturdevant, helps to lessen the likelihood of missing an important piece of the conversation because a user was busy doing something other than staring at their chat stream.

In the Winter ‘11 release, Chatter has also added a “recommendations” list that suggests people and groups to follow, Sturdevant noted. This feature will help new users adopt Chatter easily while making it easier for those versed in the world of social media tools to more easily connect to resources they might not have previously known. 

In September Salesforce.com announced it will be offering the Chatter collaboration platform for wireless devices beginning by the end of 2010/early 2011, according to a TMCnet report.

Company officials said those versions of Chatter is due on Android, BlackBerry (News - Alert), iPhone and iPad in the next six months. Salesforce.com already offers BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad and Windows Mobile versions of Salesforce CRM.