ThoughtFarmer released ThoughtFarmer 5.0, the latest edition of its intranet software:

“The biggest change in ThoughtFarmer 5.0 is the addition of a mobile-optimized version of ThoughtFarmer. Access your intranet content from modern Android, iOS or Blackberry devices: navigate or search pages, browse the people directory, update your status, comment on pages, view attachments.

Rather than a simple port of the browser version, ThoughtFarmer Mobile was designed from scratch to support the mobile context: hurried usage, screen glare from the sun, one-handed operation and touch screens. “

There’s a bunch of other improvements too – from rating to liking, a sharing bar, and user import and export.

My Comments
1. As the intranet becomes a hub of collaboration, getting access to the capabilities on the move is important. I like what I see for the mobile edition of ThoughtFarmer. For a longer treatment of the importance of mobility with collaboration, see Mobile and Wireless Access to Collaboration Systems (on Messaging News), or Pillar 2 of the 7 Pillars framework.

2. The new sharing bar piques my interest. I’ve been writing in Collaboration Roadmap (due soon!) about the ability to track expertise and influence, and one of the ways of doing that is by counting the types of behaviors that ThoughtFarmer enables through its Sharing Bar. I hope they’re capturing the data for analytical purposes and re-use!

3. ThoughtFarmer did host a live tour of the new capabilities today. I missed it. Hopefully the good people at TF will post it shortly for our viewing pleasure.

Update November 2 – the Webinar is up on the ThoughtFarmer blog.