Many people are still not familiar with the term “Web 2.0,” which refers to a second generation of Web development and design that focuses on the encouragment of social networking. Innovative companies are beginning to embrace Web 2.0 as a way to enhance communication, information sharing, and collaboration, thereby allowing them to work smarter rather than harder.

The business use of Web 2.0 represents a new trend called “Business 2.0.” Aside from being the name of a defunct magazine, Business 2.0 is about using the new Web-based social-networking applications (many of which were originally created for personal use) in a way that promotes teamwork, customer touches, and internal and external collaboration in a low-cost, seamless way.

Unfortunately, many businesses feel that Web 2.0 and social networking are for the younger generation and a waste of time when used by employees. However, once you understand the power of these applications and how to use them in your company, you’ll quickly find that they can be invaluable tools to boost your bottom line.

Following is an overview of the best Business 2.0 tools.

Personal Tools With Business Applicability
Facebook. Personal use: Facebook enables you to connect and share with the people in your life. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with others. People can add friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.

Business 2.0 use: Large organizations can connect all of their employees, or members, with Facebook. Some are finding an added advantage in using an internal, secure version of the Web site. This has helped organizations to dramatically increase their internal networking and collaboration.

Ask yourself: Could we use Facebook, or our own internal version, to get people to collaborate at a higher level?

Twitter. Personal use: Twitter is a microblogging service that allows friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of short, quick answers using no more than 140 characters per message. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or co-workers. Users can receive updates via the Twitter Web site or other social-networking sights, such as Facebook. Young people use Twitter for answering the question “What are you doing?”

Business 2.0 use: Business users could change the question above to: “What problem are you trying to solve?” Several companies have used this as a fast way to solve their problems. Hotels, airlines, and airports are using Twitter to pitch services, travel updates, and respond to travelers’ needs.

Ask yourself: Could we use Twitter to more quickly solve problems with our organization or our customers?

Wikipedia. Personal use: Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can use to find information on virtually any topic. Anyone can edit the content as well.

Business 2.0 use: A large manufacturing company with engineers in locations around the world increased problem solving and collaboration by creating an internal, secure version of Wikipedia for sharing information on parts-and-service offerings as well as repair and maintenance instructions. Retailers and suppliers could create a version of Wikipedia to advance education and training as well as information sharing.

Ask yourself: Could we create an internal version of Wikipedia to stimulate better education and knowledge sharing?

YouTube. Personal use: YouTube is a video-sharing Web site that allows users to upload, view, and share video clips. The site displays a wide variety of user-generated video content as well as movie clips, product demonstrations, and commercials. Unregistered users can watch the videos while registered users can upload an unlimited number of them.

Business 2.0 use: Businesses are posting humorous commercial videos to generate interest in their products with great success. The more entertaining the videos are, the more people watch them. Business partners could create a YouTube-like channel for the purpose of educating and training.

Ask yourself: Could we enhance our marketing efforts as well as general communication by using YouTube?

Digg. Personal use: Digg is a social-news Web site made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet by submitting and accessing links and stories. Voting stories thumbs up or down is the site’s cornerstone function, respectively called digging and burying.

Business 2.0 use: Many organizations have found this to be a good way to track the most interesting advances in technology or the most useful business news. Large organizations can create their own internal version for sharing what employees consider the most useful information.

Ask yourself: Could we use Digg, or our own internal version, to get people to share their most interesting and valuable Web-based information with one another?

Delicious. Personal use: Delicious is a social bookmarking Web service for storing, sharing, and discovering Web bookmarks. It uses a nonhierarchical classification system in which users can tag each of their bookmarks with freely chosen index terms.

Business 2.0 use: Business users can share their most useful Web sites with co-workers or business partners. If a customer purchases a product, sellers could share relevant bookmarks that keep the customer coming back for more information and perhaps for more products.

Ask yourself: Could we use Delicious to share important new Web sites faster within our organization or with our customers?

Visual Communications. Personal use: Visual communications, unlike traditional video conferencing, uses your desktop, laptop—and soon your smart phone—to hold quick, anytime/anywhere video conferences with one or more other people. Travelers who must be away from home use their laptops in hotel rooms with broadband access and free software, such as Skype and AIM, to communicate with family and friends to strengthen their personal connection.

Business 2.0 use: Businesses are discovering the power of visual communications to boost the connection with their sales force, business partners, and customers.

Ask yourself: Could we use visual communications to enhance communications internally and externally?

Purely Business 2.0 Tools
Wiki. A wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone to contribute or modify content. Wikis are often used to create collaborative Web sites and to power community Web sites. On a moderated wiki, wiki “owners” review comments before additions to the main body of the topic. Additional features include calendar sharing, live AV conferencing, RSS feeds, and more.

Ask yourself: Could we use wikis to improve internal and external collaboration?

Linkedin. LinkedIn is a business-oriented professional networking Web site for exchanging information, ideas, and opportunities. There are more than 35 million registered users spanning 170 industries, actively networking with one another. For example, large insurance companies use LinkedIn to foster networking with their independent sales representatives. HR professionals from all over the world could use LinkedIn to share best practices.

Ask yourself: Could we use LinkedIn to expand our organizational network for enhanced knowledge sharing?

Cloud Computing & Software as a Service
In Cloud Computing, some or all of the storage, software, IT processes, and data-center facilities you use can exist on your provider’s server, which is maintained and cared for by your provider, giving you 24/7 access from any device anywhere. The cost of upgrading hardware and software, maintenance, and associated IT labor costs can be dramatically reduced or eliminated this way. The term incorporates the Software as a Service (SaaS) concept, examples of which include SalesForce.com’s customer-relationship-management package and SciQuest’s spend-management package.

Ask yourself: Could we use Cloud Computing or SaaS to streamline our IT needs?

A New Competitive Advantage
By reframing the use of social-networking technology, companies can increase communication, collaboration, problem solving, and competitive advantage with little cost. Remember, many of these tools are free or nearly free, making them accessible to even the smallest of businesses. Therefore, the sooner you embrace Business 2.0 and put it to work for you, the faster you can penetrate new markets and win the lion’s share of business.