Are you up to speed with social media?

You’ve heard of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You’ve come across Google+, Digg and Pinterest, but what about Plurk, 4chan, Tangler and Banjo?

Back in March 2009 I wrote an article for my blog as I came across the Conversation Prism by Brian Solis when I was writing a dissertation on social media’s role in internal communication. Brian is globally recognised as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. He’s a digital analyst, sociologist and futurist. In short, an intriguing person to read about and follow (he’s @briansolis on Twitter).

The Conversation Prism is a ‘visualisation of the social media landscape’ or as I like to view it, a way to see how up-to-date (or not!) you are with the various sites and communities that exist. I appreciate it’s hard to see on this page so do check out the larger version.

Three years ago when I wrote my article, the Prism was only a year old as it was introduced at South by Southwest festival (SXSW) in 2008. Four years on and its author is appealing for your help to compile version 4.0.

Some categories have been removed and new ones added as well as changes made to many social networks and tools. There are now 32 categories including Comment and Reputation, Wisdom of the Crowds, Collaboration, Questions and Answers, Social Curation and Enterprise Social Networks.

But what is missing under these headings? Now is your opportunity to help shape version 4.0 and have your say to help create the current reality.

If you’re having conversations in your organisation about social media and want your Comms team to be up to speed, do share this link with them and see how many sites they know of. What sites are your employees using? Do you know? When did you last ask them?

Over the past few years I’ve encouraged people to check it out when they want to have a grasp on what social media looks like in terms of what’s out there. Without exception, everyone I have recommended it to has been surprised by the sheer size and number of sites.

You can see the full Conversation Prism and details of how to add fresh content on Brian Solis’ website. Did it surprise you? Did you know there were so many different sites? As ever, please feel free to comment below and thanks for stopping by, Rachel.