Benefits of Employee Blogs … Brett outlines a long list of benefits from the use of blogs within the enterprise, including efficient content publication, greater text articulation of knowledge, and the creation of communities of interest, among others. More

Elguji IdeaJam … Elguji Software posted a video overview of its IdeaJam idea capture and ranking software.

IBM Connections 2.0.1 … IBM released Version 2.0.1 of Lotus Connections, its enterprise social software tool. There is a variety of new features: “Quickr integration with Activities – Push-button publication from an Activity into one of your Quickr Places for permanent document storage; Quickr integration with Communities – Allows communities to use Quickr as their content repository and document collaboration platform; Enhanced person card; E-mail is no longer a required attribute (great for external implementations); New feeds inside of Communities; and New feeds for forums.” More

IBM vs Microsoft … Forrester Research released a new report, comparing Notes and SharePoint as a platform for enterprise collaboration. There’s more details at PCWorld. The key conclusion appears to be: if you use Outlook and Exchange, go SharePoint. If you use other IBM software already, go Notes. More

Mindjet MindManager 8 … Mindjet released Version 8 of MindManager, its mind mapping software, as well as MindManager Web, an online mapping service. MindManager 8 includes an embedded web browser, new Web service integration, search capabilities, and task management. “MindManager Web is an all-new, elegant way to mind map and collaborate with others online. Like Google Docs, MindManager Web is a SaaS application, but better because it transforms your outline-oriented text documents into visually compelling maps. You can edit your maps anywhere, anytime; co-edit maps with others; and pick who can access your maps within secure workspaces. Designed with the pedigree of the world’s most popular mind mapping application, MindManager Web is fully compatible with MindManager desktop software, and entering new topics and subtopics is as simple as hitting the Enter or Insert key.” More; Brian has a review.

SharePoint Analyzer … Bamboo Nation released SharePoint Analyzer, a tool for examining a SharePoint installation. “We developed this tool for two reasons: to provide our customers with the means to easily assess their own SharePoint environment, and to provide our support team with a powerful new diagnostic tool when assisting customers. SharePoint Analyzer provides the IT Admin a tool which will quickly discover the configuration of a SharePoint installation.” More