15, 16 ESNs are team‐based platforms, providing streamlined communication channels and creating a richer knowledge‐sharing environment focused on a larger series of specific projects or goals. 14 ESNs differ from social network sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, which enable users to create and promote a personal brand while building a network of connections with other individual users. Popular examples include Basecamp, 12 Microsoft Teams, 13 and Google Hangouts Chat (Table 1). 9, 10 While Slack 11 is the dominant ESN, several competitors exist, each with its own unique set of features, advantages, and potential limitations. With the advent of Web 2.0, or the social use of the web, there has been an increasing interest in online team platforms, termed “enterprise social networks” (ESNs), which are specifically designed to assist organizations in managing productivity, improving team efficiency, disseminating institutional expertise, and supporting collaboration. At academic medical centers, high volumes of e‐mails risk effective team communication due to important e‐mails being overlooked or inadvertently deleted. 4, 5, 6 E‐mail creates multiple synchronous discussions, making it difficult for individual team members to follow and distinguish topics or projects. 4 Although e‐mail remains a viable option for short, intermittent communications, the time spent reading and responding to e‐mails among larger teams discussing disparate topics may impair productivity. 2, 3 Therefore, it is important for teams to develop easily accessible, reliable, and cloud‐based collaborative tools to facilitate communication.

1 This is especially true during public health crises such as the COVID‐19 pandemic, which has accelerated the incorporation of digital alternatives into workflow. Furthermore, local access to content experts may be limited at many institutions, and multiple competing commitments may preclude attendance at relevant networking events.

Academic faculty commonly collaborate across organizations located in multiple time zones, rendering in‐person communication impractical.

Jotform slack