Handshake: A case study for exploring business networking for the enterprise, inside and out

Abstract

MITRE has developed and launched Handshake, a social networking platform for business networking use. We took a unique approach in providing a single MITRE-hosted platform for connecting, collaborating, and networking with internal employees and external partners. The business networking prototype also serves as a research platform for building and deploying other social capabilities and exploring the value of social media for the enterprise. Since its initial release, Handshake has grown to support over 4300 users (∼1000 are external participants) and 450 groups. Feedback from our early adopters has been very positive, with compelling stories on how they are able to engage our sponsors, mission users, and other partners in ways not possible with previous tools. We discuss the initial results of our study here and provide examples of how Handshake is able to meet our corporate objective of bringing the larger community to bear on problems of national importance. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.