EXCLUSIVE: Socialcast to Announce Extension to its Platform

Socialcast execs in San Francisco today gave BYTE.com an early look at what they plan to announce next week. On Feb. 1, the company plans to announce and begin shipping an extension to its enterprise platform Socialcast -- called Town Hall.

"Think of it as a real time channel that provides questions and answers between (employees and management), a discussion that can be started as a meeting or archived into a continuing conversation," said Matt Wilkinson, VP of product for the company.

Wilkinson and CEO Tim Young gave BYTE.com an exclusive early look at the extension, which will allow such Socialcast enterprise customers as General Motors to schedule "town hall sessions" publicly and privately, flag pertinent questions and in general improve communication around disparate organizations.

Socialcast will announce Town Hall officially on Feb. 1, with a scheduled announcement of its version 2.0 Socialcast two weeks later. It comes at a great time -- just as analysts begin to release satisfaction surveys of US workers that show 20 percent of them do not believe their managers are forthcoming with company matters.

BYTE.com is forthcoming with you : ) Watch this place for more sneak peaks and exclusives, I want to hear them. Also, keep an eye out for our own Fritz Nelson’s full demo of Town Hall next week and click here to view his previous coverage of Socialcast technology.

For InformationWeek, TechWeb and the upcoming BYTE.com, I’m Gina Smith.