Yammer - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Yammer is an enterprise social network

Social network

A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...

service that was launched in September 2008. Unlike Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

, which is used for broadcasting messages to the public, Yammer is used for private communication within organizations or between organizational members and pre-designated groups, making it an example of enterprise social software

Enterprise social software

Enterprise social software , comprises social software as used in "enterprise" contexts. It includes social and networked modifications to corporate intranets and other classic software platforms used by large companies to organize their communication...

. Yammer originally launched as an enterprise microblogging service and has evolved to become a full-fledged enterprise social network.

Access to a Yammer network is determined by a user's Internet domain, so only those with appropriate email addresses may join their respective networks.

According to TechCrunch

TechCrunch

TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....

in September 2010, the service is being used by more than three million users and 80,000 companies worldwide, including 80% of the Fortune 500

Fortune 500

The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...

. In a late April 2010 interview, Yammer CEO

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

David Sacks

David O. Sacks

David Oliver Sacks is the founder and CEO of Web 2.0 companies Geni, Inc. and Yammer, Inc..-Biography:Sacks attended the Memphis University School in Memphis, Tennessee. He earned his B.A. in Economics from Stanford University in 1994 and received a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School...

said that Yammer revenue was doubling every quarter, but would not disclose 2009 revenue beyond describing it as "seven figures". Sacks also said that 70% of Fortune 500

Fortune 500

companies were using Yammer at that time.

History

On September 8, 2008, Yammer launched at the TechCrunch50

TechCrunch50

TechCrunch50 was a conference held at the Design Center Concourse in San Francisco, California on September 14-15, 2009, hosted by TechCrunch and Jason Calacanis. Its aim was to find the best Web 2.0 start-ups and launch them in front of the industry's most influential venture capitalists,...

conference. Reporting from the conference, Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch

TechCrunch

described Yammer as "an enterprise version of Twitter":

"David Sacks
David O. Sacks
David Oliver Sacks is the founder and CEO of Web 2.0 companies Geni, Inc. and Yammer, Inc..-Biography:Sacks attended the Memphis University School in Memphis, Tennessee. He earned his B.A. in Economics from Stanford University in 1994 and received a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School...

, the founder of genealogy site Geni
Geni.com
Geni is a genealogy and social networking website. Launched on January 16, 2007, the Web 2.0 company aims to create a family tree of the world. While family profiles are private, Geni’s mission is to create a shared family tree of common ancestors...

, just launched a new company called Yammer on stage at TechCrunch50
TechCrunch50
TechCrunch50 was a conference held at the Design Center Concourse in San Francisco, California on September 14-15, 2009, hosted by TechCrunch and Jason Calacanis. Its aim was to find the best Web 2.0 start-ups and launch them in front of the industry's most influential venture capitalists,...

. Yammer is an enterprise version of Twitter. If Twitter asks: “What Are You Doing?”, Yammer asks: “What Are You Working On?” Engineers at Geni created Yammer internally for the company’s own purposes, but Sacks liked it so much he decided to spin it off as its own company. He explains: 'The purpose is to allow co-workers to share status updates. You post updates on what you are working on. You can post news, links, ask questions, and get answers for people in your company. You can see the most prolific people and the most followed people. It is a good way to discover who is the most influential in your company.'

In February 2010, the company launched "communities", which are networks for which access is not restricted by domain, thus allowing businesses to connect to groups such as customers, partners, and suppliers.

In September 2010, Yammer 2.0 was launched, and aimed at being a more fully featured social network for the enterprise. The new version of Yammer is designed to be more than a communications platform and it has been described as a Facebook for business.

Some of the new features include:

Events: Co-workers within the enterprise are invited to company or group events with responses tracked. Users have the ability to download events information directly into Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...

or Google Calendar
Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a free time-management web application offered by Google. It became available on April 13, 2006, and exited the beta stage in July 2009...

.
Links: Employees have the ability to share URLs with co-workers in a form that displays videos and images within the conversation.
Topics: Employees tag content with topics, enabling collection and maintaining of conversations and data.
Presence: Allows employees to see who is online now and how they are connected to Yammer (i.e. website, the desktop client or a mobile client.)
Enhanced Analytics: Provides managers with interactive charts to track engagement in their network.

Yammer also allows for third party developers the opportunity to create and sell their collaboration apps directly to users of the platform.

Yammer has received $40 million in funding from venture capital

Venture capital

Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...

firms Charles River Ventures

Charles River Ventures

Charles River Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in technology and new media companies.The firm, which is based in Waltham, Massachusetts and Menlo Park, California, was founded in 1970 to commercialise research that came out of MIT...

, The Founders Fund

The Founders Fund

Founders Fund is a San Francisco based venture capital firm which invests at all stages in companies with revolutionary technologies. The firm’s six partners, Peter Thiel, Sean Parker, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek, Bruce Gibney, and Brian Singerman have been founders of or early investors in numerous...

, Emergence Capital Partners, Goldcrest Investments and angel investor

Angel investor

An angel investor or angel is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity...

Ron Conway

Ron Conway is an American angel investor, often described as one of the "super angels". Conway is recognized as a strong networker and is based in Silicon Valley.-Early career:...

Awards and nominations

On September 10, 2008, Yammer won TechCrunch50

TechCrunch50

. Other final jury selections included Atmosphir, Fitbit

Fitbit

Fitbit Inc. is a company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. Led by James Park and Eric Friedman, the company is known for its product of the same name, the Fitbit Tracker, a wireless-enabled wearable device that measures data such as the number of steps walked, quality of...

, GoodGuide

GoodGuide

GoodGuide.Com is an online web and iPhone app tool created by Dara O'Rourke which enables consumers to retrieve evaluations of the health, environmental, and social impacts of consumer products such as toys, food, and detergents...

, Grockit

Grockit

Grockit is an online social learning game company. Grockit prepares students for the SAT, ACT, GMAT, LSAT and GRE standardized exams. Students can take practice tests while collaborating online with other users. Grockit was founded in 2006 by Farbood Nivi...

and Swype

Swype

Swype is an input method for touchscreens developed by Swype Inc. Swype was first commercially available on the Samsung Omnia II running Windows Mobile. In October, 2011, Swype Inc was acquired by Nuance Communications.- Design :...

.

Yammer was nominated (but did not win) in the Best Enterprise Startup and Best New Startup categories in The Crunchies 2008, a competition and awards ceremony put on by TechCrunch

TechCrunch

.

Yammer was named one of the 2009 InformationWeek

InformationWeek

InformationWeek is a weekly print magazine, an online site with corresponding face-to-face and virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was first published in 1979 by CMP Media, later called CMP Technology. On February 29, 2008, CMP Technology was...

Startup 50: Business Technology Companies To Watch.

In May 2010, Yammer was named as one of the 122 "Hottest Companies in San Francisco" by California-based Lead411 in the launch announcement of that list. The 122 winners were chosen from over 900, and were based on the following criteria: being within the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

; having less than $100 million in annual revenue; and having either 100% increase in revenue over the last 3 years, $5 million in funding in the past 2 years, or both 2× traffic gain the past 12 months and over one million visitors per month.

Pricing

Yammer operates as a freemium

Freemium

Freemium is a business model that works by offering a product or service free of charge while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services...

, offering a basic free service as well as a premium version of the service at $5/user/month. The premium service provides administrative controls, enhanced security tools, data export, keyword monitoring, directory integration, network analytics, SharePoint integration, a dedicated Customer Success Manager, customization, among other features. Yammer also offers discounts for large organizations as well as education and nonprofit organizations.

According to the company, users include 99designs, Axios Systems

Axios Systems

Axios Systems is a provider of the Service Desk, IT Service Management and IT Asset Management software, founded in 1988. The assyst Enterprise application suite was one of the first to support IT Infrastructure Library best practices....

, Barclaycard

Barclaycard

Barclaycard, part of Barclays Retail and Business Banking, is a global payment business. The Barclaycard was the first credit card introduced in the UK, coming into service in 1966. It enjoyed a monopoly until the introduction of the Access card in 1972....

, Cisco

Cisco

Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...

, Molson Coors, Diageo

Diageo

Diageo plc is a global alcoholic beverages company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest producer of spirits and a major producer of beer and wine....

, Groupon

Groupon

Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto...

, AAA

AAA

AAA, or Triple-A, may be a three-letter acronym or may just mean something that is high-quality, premier, or excellent.As a proper noun, Aaa is found only in the species name Cavaticovelia aaa , an insect from Hawaii....

, Cargill

Cargill

Cargill, Incorporated is a privately held, multinational corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Founded in 1865, it is now the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue. If it were a public company, it would rank, as of 2011, number 13 on the Fortune 500,...

, Valtech

Valtech

Valtech is a global digital consulting and technology services company that aligns technology to business challenges using agile and lean methodologies...

, AMD, Aricent Group

Aricent

Aricent Group is a global innovation and technology services company. The company develops software and provides technology services to application, infrastructure, and service providers with operations in 19 countries worldwide....

, Intuit, the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, Capgemini

Capgemini

Capgemini is a French global IT services company, one of the world's largest management consulting, outsourcing and professional services companies with a staff of 114,274 operating in 40 countries. It is headquartered in Paris and was founded in 1967 by Serge Kampf, the current chairman, in...

, Deloitte, Digital Australia, Essex County Council, Flippa, Fox International Channels

Fox International Channels

Fox International Channels is a subsidiary of the Fox Entertainment Group, which is a part of Rupert Murdoch's global media conglomerate News Corporation...

, Logica, LG Electronics

LG Electronics

LG Electronics is a global electronics and telecommunications company headquartered in Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea. The company operates its business through five divisions: mobile communications, home entertainment, home appliance, air conditioning and business solution...

, Mabe Mexico

Mabe Mexico

Mabe is a global company which designs, produces, and distributes appliances to more than 70 countries around the world. The company was incorporated in 1946 in Mexico City. Mabe was initially dedicated to manufacture kitchen furniture. In the 1950s, Mabe began manufacturing various appliances...

, Nationwide

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company & Affiliated Companies is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus...

, Rakuten

Rakuten

operates and manages business to consumer electronic commerce site, Rakuten Ichiba, and consumer to consumer auction site, Rakuten Freemarket. Its business is centered in Japan, although it has began international expansion through acquisitions. The chief executive officer is Hiroshi Mikitani...

, SitePoint

SitePoint

SitePoint Pty Ltd is a Melbourne, Australia-based publisher of books and websites. It is best known for its web developer books and online magazine.-History:SitePoint was founded by Matt Mickiewicz and Mark Harbottle in 1999...

, Starcom MediaVest Group, ServiceMaster

ServiceMaster

ServiceMaster is a privately held Fortune 500 company that provides various services to residences and firms. Its headquarters are located in Memphis, Tennessee after moving there from Downers Grove, Illinois in early 2007. Brands operated by ServiceMaster include: TruGreen, Terminix, American...

, Suncorp, SunGard

SunGard

SunGard is a multinational company based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, which provides software and services to education, financial services, and public sector organizations. It was formed in 1983, as a spin-off of the computer services division of Sun Oil Company, during a period of low crude oil...

, Telefonica

Telefónica

Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...

, Honeywell

Honeywell

Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....

, National Oilwell Varco

National Oilwell Varco

National Oilwell Varco is a multinational corporation based in Greater Sharpstown, Houston, Texas, which manufactures land-based and offshore oil drilling rigs as well as all the major mechanical components for such rigs...

Palo Alto Software and Telecom New Zealand

Telecom New Zealand

Telecom New Zealand is a New Zealand-wide communications service provider , providing fixed line telephone services, a mobile network, an internet service provider , a major ICT provider to NZ businesses , and a wholesale network infrastructure provider to other NZ CSPs...

Features

In addition to standard microblogging

Microblogging

Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size...

features like posting messages, addressing messages and following people, Yammer offers the following enterprise social networking

Enterprise social networking

Enterprise social networking focuses on the use of online social networks or social relations among people who share business interests and/or activities. Enterprise social networking is often a facility of enterprise social software , which is essentially social software used in "enterprise" ...

features:

Replies and threaded conversations
Tags
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...

, now known as Topics
Public and private groups within the network
Communities that are separate networks, allowing users to connect with people outside of their organization
File and photo attachments
Events, polls, and questions applications
Robust direct messaging to multiple recipients
Presence so you can see who is online now
Sending and receiving messages via IM, SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...

and Email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

Twitter integration
Microsoft SharePoint integration
iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

, iPod touch
IPod touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...

, Android, BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...

and Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...

clients
Security features like removing users who no longer work at the company, IP
IP address
An Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing...

restrictions, etc.
Network color and logo customization
Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....
A RESTful
Representational State Transfer
Representational state transfer is a style of software architecture for distributed hypermedia systems such as the World Wide Web. The term representational state transfer was introduced and defined in 2000 by Roy Fielding in his doctoral dissertation...

API (uses OAuth
OAuth
OAuth is an open standard for authorization. It allows users to share their private resources stored on one site with another site without having to hand out their credentials, typically username and password.OAuth allows users to hand out tokens instead of credentials to their data hosted by a...

for authentication)
SSL
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...

History

Awards and nominations

Pricing

Features

See also