IBM beefs up Lotus Connections with enterprise microblogging

IBM rolled out more enterprise collaboration features for its Lotus Connections software such as microblogging tools and customized widgets.

Big Blue jumped on the enterprise social networking bandwagon early. The company's Lotus Connection 2.5 debut comes amid a collaboration summit in Cambridge, Mass.

Lotus Connections 2.5 includes:

• Customized interfaces.
• Custom widgets to be moved around.
• User added blogs, wikis and file sharing.
• Community discussion threads with user photos.
• Support for the iPhone and Nokia S60 devices.
• Ways to categorize topics and most active participants.
• And a microblogging feature for status updates.

If these features sound familiar that's because they are found on Facebook, Twitter and a bevy of other consumer-ish sites.

Here are a few screenshots.

The profile page...

The community view...

And the home page...