There was such a strong resemblance to Twitter that users asked whether Gold Systems could give users the ability to post to Twitter through OCS. The answer was “yes” and the solution was baked into the Communicator client in very short order, as was a link to Facebook as well. Gold Systems packages the features as the “Social Center” application for OCS. Terry’s informal name is “Twitter for the Enterprise.” He posits that some IT departments will find it a preferable way for employees to post to Twitter because it adds authentication (meaning that employees are authenticated through Active Directory when they log into OCS). It also gives the company the ability to filter posts for inappropriate language or to apply business rules that can detect other compliance issues, for example, if a company representative is about to make a notoriously forbidden “forward-looking statement” that violates SEC disclosure laws.

You can view a demonstration of Social Center in this YouTube video. I’m also preparing an advisory to provide more detail into the origin and evolution of this example of “recombinant applications” built on the OCS framework.

According to one report, this is about 12% of the traffic level on Skype these days, but given the much smaller user base, it speaks to the power of linking voice channels to all the increasingly addictive social networks. Imagine what voice services associated with Twitter might generate.

Voice services for Second Life rely on SLim, a platform operated by Vivox, a VoIP service provider cofounded by Jeff Pulver and funded by a roster of VC’s that includes Benchmark Capital, Canaan Partners and GrandBanks Capital. Positioned as the voice channel for online communities and multiplayer games, Vivox claims that its network supports over 10 million users in more than 180 countries.

The infectious growth of VoIP and new models for call origination and management is given further validity in corporate settings. Aleassa Schambers of Aspect Software reported via Twitter that thirteen weeks into a phased roll-out of Microcost’s Office Communications Servicer 2007 R2, employees had already generated in excess of 1.8 million inbound and outbound call minutes.