There's a famous Bob Dylan press conference of the 1960s where a hapless journalist asks the young singer to define his music "for people like me who are well over 40". Dylan, for it is he, answers that it can defined as music "for people who are well under 40". As a member of the fifth-decade club myself, I can empathise with the old hack -- my ancient critical faculties don't stretch to understanding the Facebook phenomenon.
What I can understand is that Facebook and other popular social networks have tremendous reach, and, therefore, offer tremendous opportunities and, by logical extension, carry an equal degree of risk. Enter Alfresco and its announcement that it is integrating with Facebook. I'm not too sure that this wasn't in part a clever PR stunt that exploits the fascination with the website du jour but it makes complete sense for ECM firms to be applying their management tools to content that is exposed on sites like Facebook.
As even the most conservative companies recognise that exposing content to blogs, wikis, podcasts social networks and other formats will be a necessary part of their futures, that content will need to be managed. The ECM system should become the preferred alternative to piecemeal alternatives to managing content and companies that neglect to protect that content will be in trouble.
Having said that, I'm not convinced that Forrester's Kyle McNabb is right to suggest that this is the end of ECM as we know it. Large companies will be among the last to adopt the latest social media, but that is no excuse for ECM firms not to build in necessary controls ahead of demand.
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