Gartner has revealed its key predictions on the use of social software and collaboration in the enterprise. These predictions focus on offerings ranging from team collaboration to dynamic social networking applications that offer rich profiles and activity streams.

Gartner offers five key predictions for social software:

1) By 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users.

2) By 2012, over 50 percent of enterprises will use activity streams that include microblogging, but stand-alone enterprise microblogging will have less than 5 percent penetration.

3) Through 2012, over 70 percent of IT-dominated social media initiatives will fail.

4) Within five years, 70 percent of collaboration and communications applications designed on PCs will be modeled after user experience lessons from smart phone collaboration applications.

5) Through 2015, only 25 percent of enterprises will routinely utilize social network analysis to improve performance and productivity.