OK, enough of this running around shopping, wrapping, toasting, sitting by fires, watching Dick Clark... Time to get back to work! The holidays were terrific, but a few work-related things have been sitting on the back burner the last couple of weeks - I'll bet I'm not alone here - and I must say I'm energized and excited to dive back in. Yes, I'm sitting in my cubicle as I type, and it feels good.Â

As I ponder what to do first, I'm drawn to this blog. Maybe typing out a few thoughts about the past year will help me organize, find closure, and begin my journey into 2008.Â

Without peeking into the corners of my memory, I feel compelled to mention the kinds of strides we have made here at IBM in regard to social media in the past year. Yes, much of it is still invisible to many of you (intranet activities) but I'll throw some updated numbers your way here. They really get me excited about the possibilities that exist for large organizations looking to move into new ways of communication and how well it can work. Note: IBM has approx 360,000 employees worldwide.

Blogging:Â 41k unique users in the internal blog space, 11k blogs, 95k entries, 20k tags.Â

Podcasting:Â 4.5M downloads from the internal library to-date, 165k unique users, 14k media files posted, 36k tags.

Wikis (just for the month of Nov. 2007): 38M total hits, 1.2M hits per day, 985k visitors.

As well, we now have a new file sharing platform that has social enhancements, a social networking site, subscription enablement has been folded into many streams, tagging is really catching on, and most importantly to me, we are truly becoming more productively and socially connected than ever before. There is a buzz around this space that is creeping into all levels of rank and many of those who just couldn't understand the potential benefits of these types of activities are really becoming believers.Â

Due to the popularity of our platforms and our wide variety of publishers and taggers, I can now find answers and experts with speed and accuracy. That may be one of the most significant outcomes here. I cannot wait to see what will happen as we move forward into 2008. Happy New Year everyone.