ORLANDO, Fla. -- Move over Facebook, you might know consumers, but IBM knows business. And Big Blue has made a big push to define and capitalize on the market for "social business."

Indeed, not only has IBM made social business the thrust of its new strategy to help its customers and partners leverage social networking and social paradigms to their benefit, but IBM itself has become a social business, in that it eats its own dog food of social solutions coming out of its Lotus division.

In an interview with eWEEK at the Lotusphere 2011 conference here, Mike Rhodin, senior vice president of IBM's Software Solutions Group, said, "We've all seen the Facebook effect, even before the movie. But think of that situation at work for a community or a business as opposed to an individual."

Rhodin said just as in the early days of the Internet when companies were trying to figure out how to take advantage of the opportunity and to leverage content to do business, today IBM and others are trying to figure out how to leverage social networking and collaboration to become better social businesses.

"We're going to follow the same pattern and this will change the way people operate," Rhodin said. Jon Iwata, senior vice president of IBM marketing and communications, echoed Rhodin's sentiments.

For more, read the eWeek article: Move Over Facebook, IBM Goes Social for Business.

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