According to a new report by Forrester Research, though, while this new class of technologies is gaining steam in the marketplace, the trend is still in its infancy. The keys to widespread adoption and the overall the success of these new tools, the report says, are in understanding who is using them now, how they're using them, and the business needs to put into place to support them.

Here's a look at the key takeaways from Forrester's report, "The Enterprise 2.0 User Profile: 2011," along with recommendations for how your business can better leverage them.

Of the 4,985 U.S. information workers surveyed in the report, 28 percent use social software monthly, writes report author and Forrester analyst T.J. Keitt. While this number may seem impressive on the surface, breaking it down into the types of people using social software will show that the trend hasn't yet caught on.

The three types of people currently using social software monthly include early adopters, the busiest people within a company and the younger employees. That's not surprising, Keitt says, because these are the obvious candidates for social software: Early adopters are generally open to new technologies; the busiest people at companies tend to look for ways to streamline processes; and the younger members of the workforce help introduce social tools into the enterprise.