From USA Today 2/16/2011.

Facebook has managed to unite people across the world and open up communication amongst humanity to a level not imaginable just a few years back. The power of Social media and social networking has unleashed a level of collective collaboration powerful enough to topple governments. As impressive as this is, the majority of Facebook’s community has remained largely engaged in chatting with friends and relying on its well tuned algorithms to connect with lost ones.

For organizations looking to harness that level of collaborative power in order to drive continuous improvement and innovation, the new breed of idea management solutions feature Facebook-like interactivity while offering secure settings and tools designed to harness their team’s collective intelligence. Teams can collaborate across desks, walls, borders and even the general public while game-mechanics help drive motivation to engage in the conversation.

Front-end tools and back-end algorithms help link talent to ideas to ensure the best ones are identified, developed and ultimately driven to implementation. Idea management systems are like Facebook… with substance.