I've been playing around with a list I've compiled of over 3,500 social media applications, tools and utilities ... This has prompted me to ask whether or not there is a standardized industry list of social media categories - or a well thought out manner of categorizing the proliferating social media landscape. Thought I'd put it out for discussion.

Few up-front notes on my goals/questions related to this exercise:

• Keep it broad enough to be meaningful.
• Focus on the "main focus" of the site/tool/app with recognition that there may be some overlap between categories
• Consider "features" such as profiling, rankings, purchasing, etc... as attributes of brands within each category - rather than categories themselves.
• Also keep topics, such as "events" or "teens" as a separate attribute of a brand within a specific category.
• Software/hosting providers aren't the major focus here - perhaps put these in as another category?
• Services only for corporate use (e.g. Yammer) might warrant a new category

So - here are the categories I have so far. Please weigh in!

Aggregators – Any site that takes (refeeds) content from a bunch of sites and lumps it together in one site. Content may include news, profiles, blog posts, etc. These sites allow/encourage community rankings of site content, and repost content based on popularity.

Wikis – Sites that offer user-driven or collaboratively created information. These can be encyclopaedic, like Wikipedia.

Mobile – Any site or tool that is focused on mobile use or marrying web with mobile

General Networks – Large, general communities that offer a wide array of services, including profiles, messaging, “friending”, social utilities, media sharing…

Niche Networks - Communities of any size that offer a wide array of services, including profiles, messaging, “friending”, social utilities, media, which are focused on a narrow topic or area of interest. For example: pet lovers, artists, politicos.

Media Sharing - Sites or utilities that primarily focus on sharing media of various types, including:

• Books
• Audio (includes music, radio, podcast)
• Video
• Television
• Film
• Animation
• Multimedia
• Slideshows
• Presentations
• Live Casting

Blogging - Sites or utilities focused on full-scale blogging. These can include companies that host blogging platforms, utilities for bloggers, blog aggregators, etc.
Microblogging – Sites or utilities focused on micro-blogging, or the 140 character or less quick status updates offered by Twitter, Friend Feed and many others

Bookmarking / Link Sharing – Ablity to memorize URL and share it…de.licio.us and other sites apply)

Utilities – Downloadable (e.g. Desktop application) or embeddable (e.g. You Tube Video or MyBloglog reader list) tools that can be used for a number of purposes. These include but are not limited to:

• Search (finding anything!)
• Desktop (e.g. downloadable desktop tool like Twirhl – twitter app
• Productivity (to-do lists, etc.)
• Contact Management (manage your contacts across outlook/email accounts)
• Profile Management (e.g. manage your profile across Social Media sites)
• Calendar/Events Management (create your own, create an integrated calendar with friends)
• Messaging (messaging others via mobile, SMS, other)
• Status/Lifestreaming (Manage/view status across social media sites e.g. hellotxt, ping.fm)
• Listening/Measurement (Enable users to measure social media usage)
• Blogging (some are just for bloggers)

Real World Connections – Sites that connect users online to real-world events in their local communities.
Experience Reporting – Any site with emphasis on having users report their experiences (life experiences, customer experiences) related to any event. This may include a life event, shopping event or transaction, attendance at a conference, etc.
Location-Based Services – Sites that allow users to interact with other users or view data based on geography. E.g. Yelp (local reviews of local business)

Virtual Worlds – Sites that literally allow users to create avatars and interact within a 3D virtual environment such as Second Life

I'd appreciate your input on these categories! Is there anything you'd add or adjust? For example, where do you think Squidoo and Google Knol might fit?

Happy Monday!

As follow up to last week's Whole Foods swearing entry, I posted a follow up on the Marketing Profs website. The topic addresses another angle of what transpired, called "Accidental Evangelism". Please feel free to check it out, as well as the many other insightful articles posted there.

On a lighter note, my friend, Ann, has a new post on her Annarchy blog - featuring yours truly! Ann is a gifted writer. I find each one of her posts a delightful literary morsel.

Enjoy!