IBM harnesses social networking for developer skills

Big Blue believes that while thre are plenty of IT resources across the web, developers struggle with productivity and have to filter multiple sites to get technical information. My developerWorks, it says, is aimed at combining the best of social computing technologies and professional networking into developerWorks, IBM's online centre for a claimed 8 million developers. Key benefits include real-time access to technology updates, instant connection with experts around the globe and an environment for building skills more quickly. IBM cites issues such as deploying cloud computing applications, to architecting smarter energy grids, to building Java applications. If it takes off, it could be a considerable advance on the use of forums, blogs, wikis and online newsletters. And with nearly 65% of developers saying they want to start using social networking capabilities like those found on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace for skills building and collaboration (according to IBM research), it should be a winner.