Interestingly enough, both of these words mean essentially the same thing.
Social
| 1. | pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations:
|
2. seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious.
Collaborative
To work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort.
To cooperate treasonably, as with an enemy occupation force in one's country.
The core of either word rests in working together, and emphasizes the importance of relationships. Although this is true, the connotation to either word in the business world are opposite in nature. Social has the connotation of wasting time, non-work-related activities, or even productivity-draining, while collaborative on the other hand, is regarded as clutch for successful knowledge management initiatives. This is pointed out in the introduction of
Enterprise 2.0. The emphasis of collaboration and community occurs time and time again throughout the articles we have read on knowledge management. Perhaps we should be reconsidering the connotation of these words as similar, rather than distant.
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