The best social intranet software that focuses on employees and social experiences

A social intranet solution is a people-centric tool, designed to build relationships at work. Compared to traditional intranet, a social intranet solution incorporates social networking and collaboration features, as well as powerful search, multimedia creation and sharing capabilities. Organizations use social intranets to connect employees, drive engagement, share information and improve collaboration.

Happeo is the social intranet software that connects enterprises by engaging workforces with top-down, bottom-up, and peer-to-peer communication. With Happeo’s personalized news feed, you can target employees with specific information relevant to their job, location, or team. It seamlessly integrates with the third-party tools that your company already uses, while its intuitive design allows employees to easily voice their opinion, making it the best social intranet solution.

Social networks can help organizations to create a sense of community among employees and are particularly useful for teams that work remotely or in different offices. For more social interaction, organizations can decide between two types of social networks: a social intranet or an Enterprise Social Network (ESN). Both help employees to connect, learn, share and grow. They drive open communication and foster an engaging culture across generations and geographies. However, they differ in that a social intranet combines typical intranet features for collaboration and communication, plus adds social features. An ESN only focuses on the social components.

Social intranet software and Enterprise Social Networks are not the same. A social intranet is a tool for communication, collaboration and socializing. It has all the features a traditional intranet has including tools for knowledge management, document management, collaboration, plus it offers social components typically found in social media platforms like commenting, posting images and videos, tagging and sharing. Enterprise Social Networks on the other side focus less on knowledge and document management, but more on social interaction between employees. The interface is like that of popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, and makes socialising across departments, teams, and geographic boundaries easy.

You may wonder what features are included in a social intranet? The most important thing about a social intranet software is that it offers features to connect, communicate openly and collaborate. Being more productive is a central goal as well as having more fun at work. Therefore, the best social intranet offers the following social features:

• Post and share messages
• Comment and like posts
• Tag colleagues and content
• Make announcements
• Stay up-to-date with a personalized activity stream
• Access to a shared team calendar
• Create Channel groups
• Access to a people directory
• Easy to use interface for quick adoption

There are plenty of good social intranet softwares available and it can be difficult to choose the best one. Before you make a final decision on your new social intranet software you need to consider some important questions. To streamline your decision making process you can follow these steps:

• Why does your company need intranet software?
• What are your business requirements?
• What features do you need?
• Assess potential intranet options 
• Make a final decision on the best intranet software

How much a social intranet solution costs depends heavily on the number of users and the features you choose. Most social intranet providers offer a personalized quote, that is tailored to your organization’s needs and that shows a clear estimation of the final price. Basic subscriptions are always cheaper than subscriptions that include many customizations. Before you agree to a plan you can ask for a free demo. Some providers also offer a free trial, however this is not always the case.