FOCUS ON BUSINESS PRACTICES 115 software. According to Gray and Honick (2008), enterprise social soft- ware (also known as Enterprise 2.0) is a term describing social soft- ware used in businesses and enterprises. It includes such tools as blogging, people search, social network analysis, tagging, wikis, and collaboration/groupware. More and more organizations use enterprise social software to network within an organizational context, a rela- tively new tool for organizational networking. However, little research has been done in this area. Even less research has been conducted about how knowledge is created and shared using social software tools in an enterprise or organizational context or among members of the community of social practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991). It is imperative to do research about the social function of these networking tools inas- much as more and more enterprises are using such methods. In this article, we define social networking Web sites as those enterprise social software used in company intranets and other soft- ware and communication platforms. Our goal is tripartite: First, briefly introduce one relevant theory of how knowledge can be cre- ated and disseminated. Second, in light of that theory, we review modern types of enterprise tools such as blogs, wikis, and podcasts for networking and knowledge creating/sharing in organizations (Davenport, 2007, 2008 Donath & Boyd, 2004 Haythornthwaite, 2005 Platt, 2007). And third, we summarize the major preliminary findings from 12 interviews with professional services firms KPMG and Accenture and the National Australia Bank (NAB), one of the largest banks in Australia. Our interviews were conducted with IT analysts, IT consultants, and risk managers, all of whom had experi- ence using these networking Web sites. Commonplaces as a Theoretical Base The theoretical dimension used for our discussion derives from com- monplaces as envisioned in ancient rhetoric and more fully developed in the Renaissance. According to Aristotle (1991), commonplaces are defined as a collection of examples such as stories, narratives, or arguments to which the communicator could turn in formulating a transmission to others in either an oral or written construction. For example, many of the great philosophical ideas to search out truth, to locate sources of knowledge, or to supply knowledge such as from Aristotle or Confucius that we have inherited today are derived from collections of teaching notes or detailed commonplace books. at UNIV OF MINNESOTA DULUTH on March 14, 2011 bcq.sagepub.com Downloaded from

���Places��� (really a metaphor) or communes loci in the ancient and Renaissance world was simply a term for finding cognitive topics, ideas, data, information, or knowledge that could be used in the three recognized ancient modes of communication: (1) forensic communi- cation (law) with a focus on locating arguments relating to justice and equity (2) deliberative communication (e.g., government assemblies) as the primary means of getting human beings to think and act accord- ing to the expectations of others information on honor and expedi- ence and (3) epideictic rhetoric (ceremonial) that sought out knowledge on virtue and vice. That substantive trilogy, over time, increased in complexity as writers sought to collect and search out knowledge in innumerable individual and organizational contexts. Such knowledge- enlargement sources occur today, especially modern-day knowledge- sharing in and on organizational Web sites (Hildebrandt & Zhu, 2007). Enterprise Tools Enterprise social software (Enterprise 2.0) provides a platform for cre- ating self- or professionally generated knowledge and for effectively sharing information and encouraging collaboration. In a sense, this modern methodology is a tool that aids social networking within orga- nizations as well as between individuals, organizations, and groups as in former years. Our focus is on intraorganizational communication as a form of knowledge formation, collection, and distribution. There has been an increasing trend of achieving financial and knowl- edge gains with enterprise social software among organizations���some major organizations that have already adopted the use of Enterprise 2.0 tools include SAP, IBM, Deloitte, NAB, and KPMG (Bushell, 2008). There are three examples of Enterprise 2.0 technology that have been successfully adopted: wikis, podcasts, and blogs. Wikis A wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable users to freely create, modify, and edit Web page content. According to Platt (2007), wikis are used in organizations to provide affordable and effective knowledge management and information sharing. They focus on the management of knowledge as an asset, which is essential for organi- zations, especially in the professional services industry where people and knowledge are the core assets of the organization. 116 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION QUARTERLY / March 2009 at UNIV OF MINNESOTA DULUTH on March 14, 2011 bcq.sagepub.com Downloaded from