Google is the latest arrival to the enterprise social networking party, announcing Wednesday that it would incorporate business-oriented social media features into Google+, according to PC World. These will include collaboration tools centred on Google Apps.
Google is following a similar trajectory as Facebook and Twitter, which originated as purely consumer platforms but which eventually began to appeal to enterprises.
But contrast Google+ with IBM’s own social media efforts (through IBM Connections – software that was designed for business use from day one). While enterprise social media resembles the platforms consumers use, as all of it was originally derived from an initial consumer product, it will be interesting to see how Google fares against competitors that have only competed in the business-to-business space.