When IBM Beats Facebook And Twitter: Discover Relevant People Within Your Network

When twitter recently added a "Suggested Friends" feature , I was more than a little disappointed. Unlike Facebook's "People You May Know" feature, no explanation is provided for why these people were suggested. In an enterprise setting, the most valuable people are the connectors: "The people who know which people know what", according to Alan Lepofsky . The larger the organization, the more likely someone else is working on the same problem. And the less likely you'll find them. While touring IBM's Innovation lab at Lotusphere last week, I was surprised to see IBM is also tackling this problem with their "Social Networks & Discovery" project (SaND for short). And it looked FAR better than anything I've seen previously. (Screenshots after the jump .)