Yammer is a micro blogging service aimed at businesses, it allows individuals from the same organisation to join a company network and share thoughts, comments and questions with co-workers. Launched in September 2008, Yammer started as an internal tool for staff at the genealogy site Geni, however Geni founder David Sacks liked it so much that Yammer developed a life of its own.
The idea behind micro-blogging is simple – short and simple. It's an update on what an individual is doing at a particular time. Yammer takes this idea and directly targets the world of business, providing a simple and free platform for users to easily share ideas and thoughts with co-workers. Working from a simple business model, Yammer allows free access for all, but charges companies $1 per user per month if they want to take control over their Yammer network.
Yammer is also well supported, with a desktop application, and Firefox plug-ins. The desktop application allows users to see Yammer updates pop up on their desktop, just like email whilst the Firefox plug-in can be configured to prompt you every so often to 'Yammer' about what you are doing. Both of these make Yammer quick and easy to use.
On the face of it this might seem like a waste of time and just another way for employees to waste time – in reality it turns into something quite different. At Bluhalo we have been using Yammer for two months, and the impact has been extremely positive. Employees update their status every few hours during the day, letting others know what they are working on, what problems they are having and any new things they have found. This provides a continuous stream of updates around the office letting everyone know what everyone else is up to.
When people get stuck on a new problem they will Yammer the problem, often within a few minutes someone else will contact them and provide them with a solution or suggestion. This kind of communication, team work and team building is something that is difficult to achieve without a tool like Yammer.
Why have we made this our site of the month?
Communication is key to business success, both internally and externally. Yammer is a great tool to help achieve this vital part of business life, and as a website it has built itself upon business use, it is not something that has grown from hyped up media coverage or from popular culture. Its growth has been down to being a fantastic tool to improve internal business communication, productivity, team work and morale within a working environment.
As far as we are concerned, any opportunity to improve communication between employees is a good thing – and finding a great tool to do it that makes it simple, fast and easy is even better.
Why not try it for yourself at Yammer or read here what other people have to say about it.
David C
Programmer
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