Enterprise blogging has come a long way and isn't the
first thing companies are looking into when new SharePoint functionality is
discussed. This has mainly to do with the fact that blogging has the reputation
of being used to spread information that is related to individual persons
instead of enterprises.
However, lately we see a move to more "social features"
inside SharePoint environments and blogging is a very easy and logical step.
Overall blogs in the enterprise can be used in several ways:
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To thrive innovation by easily sharing knowledge;
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To gain new knowledge by following specialized topics;
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To discover new talents among your team members;
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To build knowledge bases.
The SharePoint blogging possibilities are limited if we
talk about above uses, we need a more powerful and flexible platform. Things
like a dashboard start page and blog aggregation from multiple sites. Or
statistics on views, most discussed or even a tag cloud.
Our blogging platform is a powerful information
aggregation platform that could be used for many other purposes besides blogs,
news could be such a purpose. Because of the fact that it is a platform we are
capable of building new modules on top of it without the need to design things
from scratch, it uses the core functionality of our blogging platform and the
possibilities of out-of –the-box SharePoint.
The most important features of the blogging solution
are:
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Aggregation (dashboard start page)
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It has a start aggregation page where people can see
what is going on inside other blogs and which posts are popular or not;
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A tag cloud aggregated from all blogs;
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Blog posts from several blogs with the amount of views
in front of the blog post;
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Most viewed section;
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Most discussed section;
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Create a blog option to easily create a new blog;
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Directory
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Show blogs based on Groups;
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Most viewed page;
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Most discussed page;
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Tags page, shows tags in different ways;
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Search page, customized search that includes: Views, Tags, and Comments;
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Blog site
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The blog site template contains a one click
subscribe/unsubscribe option;
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There is more information on the blog owner (short
bio);
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Short statistical information like: Views, Posts and
Comments;
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A tag cloud;
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Blog item (or post)
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Statistical information like: Views, Comments, Tags and
Age.