Chatter, which Salesforce introduced earlier this year, lets all types of employees contribute ideas and feedback within an organization, Benioff said. The company has also developed a Chatter monitoring tool he called Chatterlytics, which the company has not yet released but is using internally. Some workers might add as much value to the company as do high-level executives, and should be paid accordingly, he said.

"You, as an individual contributor, can receive the same compensation -- stock, cash -- as an executive vice president," Benioff said in an on-stage conversation with Forbes Associate Editor Victoria Barret at the NetWork conference in San Francisco. His appearance coincided with Salesforce's Dreamforce conference, where the company .

Chatter can help enterprises break down the hierarchies that prevent rank-and-file employees from contributing new ideas, Benioff said.

"It provides this vast democratization," Benioff said. "It empowers and it enables the employees who are really making a difference."

Within Salesforce, the most highly active Chatter users are called the Chatterati, Benioff said. Chatterlytics is designed to identify the most valuable contributors to the social network. Benioff did not describe how it does so or say when the tool might be made into a product.