IBM has built a social network for anyone interested in service oriented architecture (SOA).

The SOA social network, part of IBM's Impact 2008 SOA conference, brings together a like-minded community of thought leaders, IT and business professionals and academics to share best practices.

The social network is kicking off with an online SOA Jam moderated by SOA luminaries such as Dr Bob Chu, research director at Kingdee, and Richard Welke, director of the Center for Process Innovation and professor of computer information systems at Georgia State University.

IBM's SOA social network was first piloted in China and is now active in 120 countries.

"We have a thriving SOA community with more than 120,000 architects and developers, over 134 universities contributing to our SOA curriculum, and over 5,000 Business Partners [IBM resellers]," said Sandy Carter, IBM channels and marketing vice president for WebSphere and SOA strategy.

"IBM is expanding its SOA social network as a way to share best practices, accelerate SOA projects and bring together the business, IT and academic worlds. "

Participants interact using Lotus Connections which also provides integration with other social networking communities including Facebook and Twitter. They are also able to hold virtual meetings in Second Life.