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A few weeks ago, we talked about an interesting survey from a Santa Cruz, California-based IT market research firm that found that – like most Internet users – software developers are showing more and more interest in social networking.

 

That makes sense. It’s developers, after all, who are getting their hands dirty delivering integration between platforms such as the iPhone and popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

 

Once we become accustomed to communicating with our friends, colleagues and relatives through social networking sites – tools that allow us to share things like URLs and videos easily, and to get instant notification when someone comments on something we’ve read or otherwise tagged – it’s easy to imagine that technology’s use in other parts of our lives.

 

The survey, from Evans Data, also says that 90 percent of developers look at blogs at least some time and 70 percent feel that blogs are credible sources of information.

 

A few days ago, IBM introduced enhancements to its online developer community – called “developerWorks” – that includes social networking features.

 

Since launching “My developerWorks” on Thursday, Google (News - Alert) has reported 2.8 million hits for the search term, and the site (screen capture below) has seen 3,000 new profiles created, a 245 percent boost in updated profile information and 131 groups formed.

 

That’s promising, considering that developerWorks – itself created 10 years ago – was launched in 1999 and includes 8 million worldwide members.

 

Those members, as Stephanie Martin, director of developerWorks, told us during an interview today, avail themselves of each other’s expertise as well as the expertise of IBM (News - Alert) professionals themselves, who regularly participate in the community.

 

What My developerWorks offers that’s different, say, from a simple developers’ group on a site such as Facebook (News - Alert), is its “vast library of technological content,” Martin told us.

 

“So, for example, now any time an individual interacts, comments, blogs, rates or recommends an item, they’re profile is associated with that interaction,” Martin said. “So there’s this ‘v-card,’ this virtual business card, that you carry around and that makes it easier for people to follow each other and personalize their home page, where they feed in only the content they want.”

 

The business uses of social networking sites are well-documented and vast – even U.S. military leaders view sites such as Facebook and Twitter as good recruiting tools.

As Martin noted during our interview, social computing always has been about individuals interacting through the Web. But with tools such as My developerWorks, users with a common interest are investing more of themselves into social profiles that they increasingly rely upon for personal communications and – in this case – professional development.

 

“We will be driving innovation in the marketplace and the speed at which one can learn and get an answer to their question, and grow their career, is something we’ve never had before,” Martin said.

 

Specifically, My developerWorks brings social networking attributes into a single view that helps them build online relationships to create new groups, comment on and share content, build skills and grow a worldwide network of peers to drive innovation.

 

Profiles can be customized to include contacts, preferred content, real-time feeds from forums, blogs and wikis and IBM’s developerWorks site.

 

Developers can use the tool to collaborate on projects built around specific, timely tasks, such as creating applications that will help meet the need for e-medical records funded, in part, by the economic stimulus package.

 

In the coming months, Martin said, My developerWorks users will also be able to tap their own social networking profiles on sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, to expand their professional networks and collaborate on new technologies.

 

“Today people can bring in their favorite social areas outside of developerWorks, so within their profiles can bring in their Twitter feeds,” Martin said. “Where we plan to go is to have a more robust integration of profile systems.”