Now that SXSW is coming you can bet that lots of people are running panels, parties, and other events, and want to know who are the influencers on how people hear about events. That’s what Awe.sm’s VIPli.st does. In this video you’ll learn how VIPli.st tracks how news of events spreads. These kinds of services will be useful for businesses to judge the ROI of their social media campaigns, and reward influencers for spreading news of their events. By the way, I never take payments from event companies to get on my own Plancast calendar at http://plancast.com/scobleizer.

This article is republished with permission from Rackspace’s Building43.

There are a host of companies trying to change the way enterprises communicate internally. One such company is Yammer, which broke away from the pack two and a half years ago as the winner of TechCrunch50. Since then, they’ve been working hard to change the way we communicate with one another in the workplace.

“[Yammer] creates a private and secure enterprise social network — a social network just for the employees of a company,” explains David Sacks, Founder and CEO of Yammer. It “helps expose who in the company has hidden expertise, who is contributing the most and who other people go to for answers.”

Unlike email or IM, Yammer creates a searchable database of conversations from which anyone in the company can benefit, not just those who were a part of the original discussion. Users can also use Yammer to create polls, post events and post questions. If a question has already been asked, the system will recognize this and immediately direct the user to the answer. Only current employees with an active company email address have access to the network, and the knowledge in the system remains long after employees have left the company.

Interestingly, Sacks has found that the benefits of Yammer extend well beyond enriched internal communication. “Companies that use Yammer have employees that feel more engaged, they feel more connected to their coworkers, they feel more connected to the company’s mission,” says Sacks. “As a result, you have less employee turnover.”

More info:

Yammer web site: https://www.yammer.com/
Yammer blog: http://blog.yammer.com/
Yammer on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Yammer
Yammer profile on CrunchBase: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/yammer

Where you rent your office space can dramatically change your opportunities. I’ve been studying this lately, having gotten around to TechStars, Y Combinator, Dog Patch Labs, and now FoundersDen.

What did I see at FoundersDen?

1. The network. Zack Bogue, one of the four guys who are running FoundersDen, is married to Marissa Mayer. Think he can’t get your company in front of nearly anyone? Well, look at the other three founders, including Jonathan Abrams.

2. Diversity of assistance. With four founders they can cover you with legal and technical help, not to mention pretty much any other startup company.

3. Diversity of companies you’ll work with. They have more than a dozen companies working here, including many of the smartest people in the business (I saw Charles Hudson working at one desk). That makes for interesting conversations at lunch, but also means you’ll find help with the problems you are facing.

4. Location, location, location. It’s right near Techcrunch and the train station, not to mention tons of other startups.

Anyway, enjoy this look around FoundersDen where we discover what could be termed as “startup heaven.” One problem, you gotta get invited to rent a desk here, so start networking!