For what we know, there are quite a few organizations that go to the extremes to block out the social networking sites out of their offices, just to prevent their employees from getting distracted. Have they won the battle? Maybe! But even if they win, they could be at loss. .

Social network media is bound to seep into all walks of life and work in the next 2 years. We are in a transitional state were restricted working environments are giving way to more of a free social enterprise business culture. Like it or not, the change is here. Social media networking is a huge infantile market and Forrester analysts say that Enterprise 2.0 will become a US 4.6 billion dollar industry by 2013.. The companies that try to prevent the social media networks might have already lost their potential customers to their competitors who hold no taboo against them.

That brings us to a very important question, will there ever be a true bridge between social networking sites and enterprises?The answer lies in moderation and in the advent of Community management.

But first, what is Community management?

It has been there,right from the arrival of all forms online interpersonal communication (ie, online forums, chats rooms, newsgroups, etc) but had mostly stayed on the sidelines. It’s only now starting to get serious attention as a technique for managing social collaboration within organizations and outside. Community management would mean creating, expanding and moderating/managing online communities built that around the company’s product, service or the company itself. But that is not all, it would also include managing the vital social must-haves like networking, marketing, evangelism, human resource management, communication, corporate blurb, etc.

Enterprise social networking can be regulated process with community managers to oversee it. It would be best if companies embrace it and treat it like any other enterprise communication tool.