NASA’s internal social network started out with users talking about the network itself, but the chatter soon turned to questions scientists and others were seeking to answer.

They headed to the social network and Holm said the result was that 93% of the answers came from people who were in a different NASA center then the questioners, which was proof that the network was breaking down geographic barriers and unlocking potential.

Holm’s knowledge management team is now working on a project called Spacebook that combines profiling and networking together with the content used to help make decisions. It also includes a records management component.

"It was difficult to share information from one part of NASA to another, so we looked at fixing those problems," says Holm. Then they worked on integrating knowledge distributed throughout the space agency.

Holm says social networking was judged as something beneficial, useful and providing a return on investment for what NASA was trying to do.