Forrester predicts big hike in 'Enterprise 2.0' spend

22 April 2008

In five years' time, businesses will be spending almost $4.6 billion on Web 2.0 tools, according to analysts Forrester.

In its latest report, the research group forecasts 43% annual growth in the social media market for so-called Enterprise 2.0, as organisations invest particularly heavily in social networks.

The report includes survey results that suggest the world's biggest companies are the most interested in adopting the new technologies, with 51% of firms employing over 20,000 staff either buying or considering buying web 2.0 tools.

The smallest firms showed the least interest, with just 33% of those under 100 employees decided or thinking about purchasing Web 2.0 technologies.

"Social Computing and Web 2.0 marketing are still in their infancy; and in general, the market is still in an experimentation phase," said the report's author, G. Oliver Young. "But in the long run, the effect of Web 2.0 will be enormous."

However, Dennis Howlett warned at ZDNet that the report's definition of what comprises Enterprise 2.0 technology was too loose to be meaningful.

"Companies buy technology to solve specific problems not technology that boils the ocean and yet that's what I imply from the way Forrester has defined the topic area," he wrote.

Category: Social media