Social Networking for Business: Choosing the Right Tools and Resources to Fit Your Needs

11. Social Computing Value

Social computing is a general methodology that applies human interests, ingenuity, and analysis to a range of business problems that are not practical or possible to solve with raw machine computational power. The element of “computation” here is the process of how people discover, consider, interpret, and communicate ideas through various means. These are not formulaic processes; each person brings his or her own unique history, expertise, and personality when working on the problem. This element of creativity separates social computing from mathematical and analytical models possible through software code and algorithms. Yet social computing still requires a software-assisted medium that works through online environments ...