When Socialtext released version 5 of its enterprise collaboration software in late September, the new feature that leapt out at me was Socialtext 360. It's a way to connect similar people inside an organization--similar interests, expertise, geographic focus, etc.

Both similarity and differentiation have a key role to play in fostering collaboration. Similar people provide a complementary depth and set of relevant experiences. Different people help us see the world in new ways. Socialtext 360 highlights both, though its practical emphasis is on similarity.

Socialtext licenses the 360 technology from IntroNetworks, whose focus previously was to quickly bring people together at major conferences and events. The technology works as follows. The customer must identify four core areas for collaboration. As a default starting position, Socialtext sets those areas to business, technology, geography, and interests, but the customer has complete control over the four areas it wants to use.

Within each area is a controlled vocabulary that an administrator at the customer organization creates and maintains. The idea is to break down each area classification into a set of specific terms that have meaning within the area. For example, within the default "business" area, initial categories include "analysis," "finance," "large enterprise," "retail," and "supply chain." Those terms, like the four area labels, are customizable. Once the administrator has set up the four areas and subsets of terms, each user then sets up his or her profile within Socialtext 360.

To establish a profile, the user clicks into the four areas and selects the terms that are of the most interest, ranking them in importance. The interface was designed to be fun to use, so as to stimulate user engagement, says IntroNetworks CEO Mark Sylvester.

Once users have established their profiles, Socialtext 360 does its magic in the background. It correlates the interests across the four areas for the particular user, and shows links to other people who have similar and diverging interests. The closer a given person is to the red pin in the center of the circle (which represents the current user), the more similar that person is in those areas.