Social Collaboration definition

Social collaboration is the joined-up efforts of multiple stakeholders in pursuit of a common goal. Social collaborations can be split into results- and time-orientated variations, where there’s a concrete end goal that must be achieved in a specific time period, and on-going, long-term communities where social collaboration is the driving force behind the community’s purpose e.g. forums.

Social collaboration is common on the internet because the technologies available make it easy to share, develop and analyse. Social media is a common arena for social collaboration – there also exists specific social collaboration software, often deployed in organisations, that help bring together people to work towards a common goal.

The corporate environment is experiencing a shift towards social collaboration, particularly since the explosion of cloud-based integrated talent management suites, which allows employees to talk and share directly with colleagues and other stakeholders, some of whom may be thousands of miles away in another department or subsidiary.