Monday, August 25, 2008
Businesses Use "Hives" to Build Niche Communities
HiveLive, a platform for building business-oriented custom social communities, lets users create custom blogs, wikis, and forums with Web 2.0 building blocks called Hives.
While a social network like Facebook is geared toward the mass consumer market, HiveLive is carving out a viable niche for itself the enterprise market. The company's different focus means it isn't in direct competition with Facebook: "We work with organizations who often use both," CEO John Kembel says.
A company-specific network allows for employees to have private, internal conversations about future plans like product designs, Kembel says.
The user-generated social networks, easily formed and transformed by members, are based on the structure of beehives.
Competitors include Ning, OneSite and Boston-based Mzinga. Andy interviewed Mzinga co-CEO Barry Libert in November, 2007.
--Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer