Twenty-four percent of companies say they currently use Web 2.0 social software and another 8 percent say they will begin using it in the next year, according to a survey from ChangeWave Research.
When it comes to specific Web technologies Wikis (20%), blogs (18%), and social networking (15%) are receiving the most attention from companies. Current users believe Wikis are the most beneficial to their company, but future users think blogs (26%) and social networks (21%) will be the most beneficial. Overall 39 percent said their company is very or somewhat willing to use Web 2.0 social software for business purposes.
The top reasons for companies to use Web 2.0 technology are to improve internal employee collaboration and to increase internal efficiency and productivity. While current users are more internally oriented in their usage, future ones will be more externally focused.
Among companies that currently use or plan to begin using Web 2.0 software, 35 percent say they will spend more resources on it over the next 90 days, while 2 percent say they will spend less. Current corporate users are investing the most money in Wikis (26%), future users will investments in social networks (22%) and blogs (21%).
“I think Web 2.0 has been simmering a lot for the last couple of years under the radar, at least in enterprises; 2008 looked as we were coming toward it that this stuff would be exploding,” said Joshua Levine, editor of ChangeWave Investing.
ChangeWave surveyed 2,081 companies for the report.
