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Yammer is called "Twitter for Businesses" and it recently made a big splash in the news when it won at TechCrunch50, an event that recognizes startups with merit. The company was given a check for $50,000 to grow its business model.

Why was Yammer created? I mean, do we really need Twitter inside organizations too? Apparently some do and are finding it extremely beneficial. Yammer was built as an internal tool for Geni.com because the team wanted and needed features that many social networks offer but needed them within a secure and private area. It was a tool built to essentially solve their own problem, but when it continued to evolve and became such an integral part of how they worked and communicated at Geni, they decided to spin it off into its own company.

Clearly there was a pent up demand for the tool. In the first week of Yammer's release more than 10,000 companies and 50,000 people started using it, according to the figures provided to me by the Yammer Team.

One of the biggest differences between Twitter and Yammer is that it's free for employees, but companies must pay to "claim" their network and gain administrative control.

Anyone can start or join a company Yammer network. All that is needed is a valid email address for that company. Once it is created, the company can "Claim their Network." For a fee this allows companies to have added security and administrative features. These features include functionality such as password policies, IP ranges (to limit access), custom logo for branding, and management of content and members. Administrators can also remove messages and users. Perhaps one of the most important benefits to claiming your company's network is that once you do, the company owns the content in the network. Until that point, the users own the content.

The cost to claim your network is priced at $1 per month per member of your company's network following a free, three-month trial period.

Features

What's in it for you? What makes this internal communication tool different than all the rest? Yammer makes communication more horizontal and peer-to-peer while still allowing knowledge and information to flow where it needs to go. It does this while organically creating a repository of knowledge that can be tagged or searched at a later date.

You can quickly see updates from everyone, those you are following, or direct messages you have received or sent. From here you can post replies, view a thread, forward messages, or follow hyperlinks to individuals or tags for related information. Because everything is time stamped and threaded you can follow a complete discussion at any time even if you are new to the conversation.

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