More great news I’m excited to spread. The highly prestigious and notable National Best Books 2008 Awards gives a nod to The Age of Engage.

The Age of Engage continues to win praise and awards. You can download excerpts here.

Popularity: 19% [?]

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% [?]

Finally, a Web conferencing system designed for independent consultants and small companies. CoolConferenceLive is a free visual conferencing service (yipee!) on par with WebEx. But, it’s the little extras that I really like.

First there’s no software to download. It’s 100% Web-based. And you don’t have to schedule the conference in advance, sign up a specific number of users or a set a time limit.

Each participant can set up a personal profile, so everyone on the conference knows a little about who they’re talking to. You can send public or private messages to other attendees during the conference. The moderator can quickly poll the group and show the results. Anyone on the conference can upload and share files. And best of all, every participant can take notes and email their notes to anyone right from the site.

It’s ideal for Web-based business meetings.

If you use the free version, there are a few ads displayed at the top, but they’re fairly subtle.

I do have one request however. The voice conferencing requires attendees call into a toll number. I would much prefer voice come through the computer (VOIP). It’s free and efficient.

Popularity: 54% [?]

Last week Walt Mossberg reviewed Xobni, a plugin for Microsoft Outlook. The review was mostly positive so I thought I would give it a try. Wow! If you use Outlook this tool is a must-have. Once installed, the Xobni dashboard pops up right inside Outlook (as an additional vertical panel). When you click on an email, you can see the history of emails with that person and a list of attachments sent or received. You also get the person’s phone number (from your Outlook addresses or the Web). When I click on the daily update emails I receive from the Wall Street Journal, I also get the 800# to the Journal and the general email address (access@interactive.wsj.com).

There are many more features, but the bottom line is that Xobni makes your email much more functional and easier to navigate. And so much easier to search! How did I ever live without it?

Popularity: 45% [?]

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% [?]