SharePoint developers to get a Twitter-esque business communication service

3/23/2010 2:13 PM

Microsoft has reportedly finished an internal test of the new OfficeTalk microblogging system for enterprises, and will broaden its initial examination of the software with a limited distribution to several outside companies, according to tech news site eWeek.

A posting last week on Microsoft's OfficeLabs blog said that, as yet, OfficeTalk was not a finished product, but rather "a research project focused on learning how people might use social networking tools at work and in what ways both people and organizations realize their value."

CNET's Ina Fried reports that "creating a service people want to use at work starts with having the features that make the service convenient to use, but extends to other factors that include where the content is shown and who else is using it." Fried also spoke with numerous Microsoft experts, who emphasized the prototypical nature of OfficeTalk.

According to Fried, Google has a similar project in the pipeline, which runs on the same platform as the company's controversial Buzz social networking service. Buzz was criticized at launch for what some said was its cavalier treatment of user privacy.

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