Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas created this [a new] visual model of the social media tools that can be used to create, extend and enhance conversations online. [You can find it here.] [The starfish model below was created by Robert Scoble.] This is an These are excellent visuals for use in internal presentations to management when you need to explain how all of these tools/apps/sites relate.

You can find Brian’s post here.

I’m inspired by this diagram to create one for the social media monitoring, managing, analysis tools since that’s what people ask me about most often. Jesse, Brian, would you like to help?

Update September 26, 2008. (Jesse, thanks for the corrections.)

Popularity: 44% [?]

Recently, both the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek have introduced communities on their websites. I’ve played a bit with each and they are both a valuable investment of time (and we all know, social media takes up valuable time).

BusinessWeek’s Business Exchange is focused on news articles and submitting, commenting on, and interacting over news linked to the site from anywhere. BusinessWeek does a great job highlighting and giving recognition to active users.

Both platforms are intuitive and easy-to-navigate and use. Yet, it is still the early stages (beta for both systems) so activity is low (or lower than you might expect for such big brands). In short order, I would expect the communities and interactions to grow rapidly.

The WSJ community is geared more towards discussions and groups. Anyone can start a group or join a group.

Personally, I think it’s about time mainstream publications invited readers in to create a conversation and share opinions. News just begs to be talked about. It would be fun to see journalists commenting on each others articles and other news and overall joining the conversation.

Popularity: 54% [?]

You or your company may have implemented blogs, podcasts, wikis, and other new media. Or, maybe you haven’t yet. Either way, employees across your company are getting involved with Web 2.0 — somewhere. They’re on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or LinkedIn. They’re commenting or reading comments on Shopper.com, Yelp, or Amazon. It’s also fairly likely some of your employees log on to industry forums to ask questions or offer answers.

Whether or not your company is actively implementing new media, it’s important to have a set of guidelines that helps employees understand the rules when they speak online as an employee. Several companies including IBM, Sun, and the BBC post their social media guidelines. You can review these to get some ideas.

Here are several items I like to include. The focus is on responsible participation. Don’t forget to run the guidelines you produce through legal review before you post them.

1. Don’t be anonymous. Always identify who you are and what company you work for.

2. Only designated employees speak “on behalf” of the company. Everyone else speaks for themselves.

3. Be personal (share a little about yourself), but protect your privacy.

4. Respect others. (Need I say more?)

5. Consider the content carefully. It will be on the Web and in search results for a long, long time.

6. Respect copyright, trademark, and fair use laws (use links instead of excerpts, always give attribution).

7. Protect confidential and financial information (for your company and every other company)

8. The company’s Employee Rules of Conduct (or similar employee guide) applies online.

9. Become part of the industry conversation, link to other’s, and have fun.

Popularity: 55% [?]

Looking for business advice online? There are dozens of websites aimed at helping small businesses and entrepreneurs. Some of them answer quick questions, others develop long-lasting mentoring relationships, and a few help entrepreneurs raise capital. Here is a list of sites I found in the WSJ you can check out.

Score.org

IdeaCrossing.org

GoBigNetwork.com

IMantri.com

MicroMentor.org

Popularity: 93% [?]

Google has announced Google Friend Connect (in preview release) which makes it quick and easy for publishers to add social networking features to their website. By adding a snippet of code, publishers can add user registration, invitations, members gallery, message posting, and reviews. On your website, users will be able to see friends’ comments from their social networks such as Facebook, Bebo, Hi5 and others. They will be able to access social applications, and add items to their profiles. For more info, click here.

All in all, a nice set of functionality.

Popularity: 67% [?]