I know what you’re thinking. Private social networking is a stupid idea. Be open. Right? But there are plenty of situations where private social networking actually makes a heck of a lot of sense.

Think about it. Today, we use activity streams on social networks for marketing, sales and customer service. But there’s nothing private about Facebook. How can businesses social network privately?

In his keynote at Dell’s B2B Social Media Huddle in London last month, Brian Solis said that he never shares information that gives him a competitive edge.

So what do you do if you want to use activity streams for collaborating with your coworkers and share proprietary information? Email is great for person to person communications, but it’s a lousy collaboration tool. Is there a safe way to build your own, private social network? Google Wave was an early attempt at private social networking, but it was before its time.

Salesforce.com introduced Chatter, its exclusive social networking service as an extension of its SaaS CRM platform 2010. And in February 201, it made its private social networking service free.

To listeners of this podcast, it will come as no surprise that access to a safe activity stream in a private social network behind a firewall can bring new efficiencies and added productivity to the workplace. In this epsiode Robin Daniels, (@robin_daniels) VP of Product Marketing, Chatter talks to us about:

The results of their latest customer survey

28% fewer meetings

32% less email

50% said they could find information faster

Why Google aborted Wave

The Salesforce Chatter Community Etiquette Guide

Overcoming internal adoption challenges

How Chatter protects customers against hackers

How Chatter compares to SharePoint

Seesmic integration for easier engagement and an open question to Loic LeMuer

Chatter’s biggest weakness

This episode on private social networking advances a previous conversation we had with Chris Messina of Google on activity streams. If you’re interested in this topic, the epsiode with Chris is a must listen.

Upcoming:

Mobile Search Strategy with Rich Devine of ZAAZ

When to Facebook, Tweet, Email Market and Blog with Dan Zarrella of HubSpot

Community Management Deep Dive with Rachel Happe of the Community Roundtable

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Recommended Episodes:

B2B Social Media Podcast - Epsiode 8

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About the Podcaster:

Eric Schwartzman @EricSchwartzman provides social marketing services, social marketing research and social media training to businesses, government agencies and nonprofits. He over 15 years experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs. He has served Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, NORAD Northcomm, Southern California Edison, Toyota, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, US Embassy to Rome, United States Marine Corps and many other small to medium-sized companies and agencies. Eric is also the instructor behind top-rated social media training seminars and the Social Media Boot Camp which are offered monthly in the US and abroad. Visit the social media training calendar for upcoming dates.