How Does Our Social Media Software Work?

Another question I was asked is "how does it work?" I don't think this means to rate it, but if so then the answer is "very well." We're running Jive Clearspace 2.5.x and we're very happy with it. Of course, there are things we don't like and the inevitable bugs that come with complex software, but no system is perfect, is it?

But if the question is, "how" does it work, then that's a little harder to explain. It's easier to show than to tell, but I'll take a shot at it.

Jive Clearspace is an integrated set of tools and capabilities, all delivered through the Internet in a browser. It includes:

• Discussion threads / forums
• Blogs for individuals and communities
  
• A full-featured wiki with a rich-text editor
• Profiles for users, viewable in a directory format as well as an organization chart view
• Project management features (somewhat limited, but fine for many, many projects)
• User-created groups that allow and empower anyone to form a community easily
• RSS feeds and email notifications to keep people informed
• Widgets that let you customize many pages with slick sets of features
• Powerful and handy search capabilities
• Tagging and tag clouds, for developing a folksonomy and visually drilling down on topics
  

Anyone can learn more by going to the Jive website, but that's what I would highlight. The key is that all of this is in one system that is really very easy to use. You can find all of these features in separate tools and piece this functionality together. But the benefits of an integrated, simple system are immense.