Social collaboration refers to processes that help multiple people or groups interact and share information to achieve common goals. Such processes find their ‘natural’ environment on the internet, where collaboration and social dissemination of information are made easier by current innovations and the proliferation of the web.

Sharing concepts on a digital collaboration environment often facilitates a “brainstorming” process, where new ideas may emerge due to the varied contributions of individuals. 

These individuals may hail from different walks of life, different cultures and different age groups, their diverse thought processes help in adding new dimensions to ideas, dimensions that previously may have been missed. 

A crucial concept behind social collaboration is that ‘ideas are everywhere.’ Individuals are able to share their ideas in an unrestricted environment as anyone can get involved and the discussion is not limited to only those who have domain knowledge.

Social collaboration is also known as enterprise social networking, and the products to support it are often branded enterprise social networks (ESNs). 

Social collaboration compared to social networking & crowd-sourcing:
Social collaboration is related to social networking, with the distinction that while social networking is individual-centric, social collaboration is entirely group-centric. 

Social collaboration is similar to crowdsourcing as it involves individuals working together towards a common goal.