The evolution of social networking has been something to watch. Now that some major companies are both getting into the market and some are being made because of it, it's starting to generate some notable items all its own. Recently, word emerged about one more such notable item, specifically, Microsoft's plans to buy Yammer (News - Alert) in a nine-figure deal.

Neither Microsoft nor Yammer was willing to comment on the exact terms of the deal, which reports peg as being worth around $1.2 billion, but one thing is clear: If Microsoft (News - Alert) does buy Yammer, it's going to give it a lot of extra firepower in the social networking arena, and that in turn will give it a boost in the wider overall market.

While Microsoft already has something of a social presence via its SharePoint line of collaboration software, the SharePoint line has one critical weakness in that SharePoint's features all pretty much stand or fall on their own. Status updates don't get announced to the community at large, and that's a significant problem. Some, like Kevin Conroy of the Seattle consulting firm Blue Rooster, regard SharePoint as "cumbersome", and that's not the kind of assessment one wants of their social tools. Getting their hands on Yammer, however, would go a long way toward giving Microsoft the kind of tools it would need to get more fully integrated with the social networking concept.

Better still, Microsoft's acquisition of Yammer would be a solid play at the consumer level, as the Yammer interface reportedly shares a lot in common with Facebook's (News - Alert). This gives users a note of the familiar in their use of the system, and makes it more user-friendly in the process. Add Microsoft's earlier acquisition of Skype (News - Alert) into the mix and the picture becomes a bit clearer, that Microsoft wants a more powerful social presence to keep up with the market trend.

Social networking is proving to be quite the prize, as its evolution alone shows. It may have formerly been something fun people did to keep in touch with old friends and find new ones, but then the business applications became apparent. People used it to network, market and sell products, find new jobs, and in many notable incidents, lose those new jobs when employers didn't like the content of their employees' social networking. HR departments developed social networking policies. Pundits weighed in on the intrusiveness and value of these policies. Add to that recent reports of employers--and potential employers alike--demanding Facebook log-in data before hiring, and laws emerging to prevent such practices, and the value of social networking becomes readily apparent.

Microsoft getting its hands on Yammer, if it comes to pass, would give them a lot of extra ammo in the ongoing turf war that is social networking. Would it be enough to put them on par with Google (News - Alert) and Facebook? That remains to be seen, but if Microsoft wants to get back in the social networking game, it will need the edge that timely acquisitions can provide.