At the Warrillow conference – which focuses on small business – I saw how a variety of companies are making attempts to enter social media.

Take CDW, which is a mega information technology (IT) distributor. About a year ago, the company launched Conduit. Basically, it is a social networking site focused on small business IT pros.

According to Lauren McCadney – who heads up the effort – the site has grown organically, as members have connected with each other to solve problems. This is important since small companies usually have one or two IT pros in their organization. So yes, things can get isolated and loney.

But there were risks. After all, user-generated content can be tricky. What if members make bad comments about CDW?

"Members have good manners on the site," said McCadney. "It hasn't been a problem." In fact, there is a separate section, called CDW Talk, where members can vent.

Conduit has also found ways to monetize things, such as through sponsorships. For example, there is a makeover contest; that is, a small business can win up to $50,000 in services and support from Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Investors don't seem to be losing their appetite for social networks -- at least for the top ones. The latest funding comes from Ning, which recently raised $60 million. Apparently, the valuation is a pre-money $500 million or so.

The company has lots of pedigree. That is, the co-founders include Marc Andreessen -- who is the mastermind of Netscape -- and Gina Bianchini, who is a former Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) investment banker. They launched Ning back in October 2004. And it was good timing.

Basically, Ning allows users to easily create their own social networks, with blogs, videos, photos and so on. It has become a melting pot of creativity.

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) continues to dial up its efforts in the Chinese market. Having increased its position against the country's leading search engine, Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), it is now looking to rapidly expand its presence in China's social networking community. Although Google's efforts in social networking really have not paid off in the U.S., that's not the story in China.

Part reality and part competitive trap (perhaps), Google is making the world think that social networking is ripe for expansion in China. At the same time, China's government wants to ensure all these communications are kept under control (it's a communist country, right?), which would make one think this: how on earth can any company bring social networking to a market ruled by an iron fist when it comes to communications?

Kai Fu-Lee, the former Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) employee who defected to Google recently under intense scrutiny, indicates that the typical Chinese internet user is 25 years old -- making the market perfect for increasing market awareness and share of social networking efforts. But Baidu may be used more often by kids looking for pirated audio and video content more than anything else -- not for "talking and socializing with friends" as social networking is typically described. Is Google really wanting a piece of that, or is it trying to torpedo competitors? Hey, the world's largest internet search company did not arrive where it is today by being stupid.

Even as its founder Mark Zuckerberg has ascended to #785 on the Forbes List, the company has been dooged by questions -- and a lawsuit -- about its origins.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who are twins and founders of the site ConnectU, accused the Facebook founder of stealing their idea, and sued him for fraud, copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets. Facebook denied the allegations, but the litigation cast somewhat of a shadow of the company.

Now the New York Times is reporting that "a person briefed on the status of dueling lawsuits between Facebook and the competing site ConnectU said on Sunday that Facebook was finalizing a settlement with the founders of ConnectU ... A Facebook spokeswoman said the company would not comment on legal matters. But the person briefed on the status of the negotiations said motions to dismiss the cases are expected to be filed "within weeks."

Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) recently lost its director of social media to Facebook, and the company's IPO is one of the most anticipated events in Web 2.0, although the company has not yet made any moves to take itself public. The resolution of this lawsuit, a source of some uncertainty, is an important step in moving toward a public offering.

It's always interesting to see what online audience and traffic measurements have to say about overal web use; traffic, number of users, website loyalty, etc. Now that Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) AOL is acquiring the UK-based social networking site Bebo.com for some $850 million, the site measurement companies are showing their own data. Notice that every one generates a different result.

When you look below, you'll see that all web measurement tools and methods generate different results.

It was just an average Wednesday night for me-researching potential stock plays, working on some blog posts and catching up on many overdue emails, all to further my goal of becoming Cramer 2.0-when I saw a post on EliteTrader.com that linked to The Smoking Gun exposing Governor Spitzer's call girl "Kristen" as 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre. Apparently, Kristen was/is her professional name. Always one to jump when opportunity knocks, I raced to dig up everything I could on Ms. Dupre to post on my blog and break some news of my own. What happened next might or might not blow your mind.

Several websites had already linked to her MySpace profile (owned by News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) so I went there and grabbed her photos to add to my story. The other sites had used the photos, too, but the pictures were all tiny and spread out over multiple pages (no doubt to increase their hits and subsequently their Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) ads, so I saw opportunity in providing them all on one page just as they were. But I didn't stop there.

I also searched other social networks like Facebook and bingo, she had a profile there! That would be "my exclusive." A few more clicks and the post was published. Within minutes, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has indexed my article and while I was late to the party, my "Facebook Exclusive" made my story unique and the hits tumbled in. I'm used to 200-ish visitors/hour, but thanks to this one simple post, 1,500 people visited my site within the first 45 minutes. And that's when things got interesting.

With revenues of $16.5 billion and a cash hoard of $14 billion, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is certainly no longer a scrappy startup. In fact, Wall Street is getting somewhat concerned about the company's prospects, as seen with the recent decline in the once mighty stock price.

So it's no surprise that some of Google vets are leaving for other opportunities.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription), the latest to make a move is Sheryl Sandberg, who was the vice president for global online sales and operations (actually, her bio is still on the Google site).

Her next stop: the popular social networking site, Facebook.

So what if Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is getting rude? That's the attitude at Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), which is continuing to plug forward on its business.

For example, this week the company unveiled plans for a new product: oneConnect. Basically, it's part of Yahoo!'s mobile platform and has capabilities like instant messaging as well as a "socially connected" address books.

Huh? Well, users can use GPS technologies to alert you when a friends are nearby (or, I'm assuming you can set alerts for people you want to avoid, which may be an even better feature).

Yahoo also realizes that there's an opportunity to use oneConnect to help organize the clutter in the social networking space. To this end, the platform integrates with Facebook, Bebo, LinkedIn, MySpace and so on. And, of course, Yahoo! is working on a version for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone.

It seems every day I get a pitch for a new-fangled social networking site. For example, I saw one that is for people who like food. Oh, and there was one for people who are over 70 (I'm not kidding).

Hey, with the huge success of MySpace and Facebook, I can see why entrepreneurs are jumping on the bandwagon. But are things getting out of control? And more importantly, is there really much money to crank out of social networks?

From what I can tell, it looks like the space has been a bust. For example, on the recent quarterly conference call for Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), there were some comments that indicated the disappointment with the monetization of social networks.

The Wall Street Journal [subscription required] has a piece on this today. What are the issues?

I'm a big fan of LinkedIn, which is a social network for professionals. In fact, the service has helped me get sources for some of my stories.

But competition is starting to emerge, the latest comes from Hoover's, a part of Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB). Hoover's has acquired Visible Path, which develops an enetrprise-class social networking platform.

So what makes Hoover's Connect different? Essentially, it's a LinkedIn for individual companies and the system integrates with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s Outlook and other products.

Perhaps the biggest key, however, is privacy. After all, if you are a major executive (who has the power of the checkbook), do you want your contact information freely available?

Hoover's can also leverage its large base of business customers. For example, it is possible to use the system to develop referral paths for various companies, making it to make it easier to make a connection. Actually, according to a study from the University of Chicago and University of North Carolina business schools, it is 16 times more likely to get a response from a trusted source versus a cold call.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

American Greetings (NYSE: AM) knows how to deal with changing times. After all, the company got its start in 1906.

In fact, the company was an early adopter of dot-com technologies (going back about 13 years), and has purchased a variety of digital companies, such as BlueMountain.com.

And yes, American Greetings is also making moves on the social networking front through its popular Kiwee.com destination. In its first six months out of beta, the site has attracted more than 1 million members. A key has been its IM Toolbar, which allows for cool digital icons and expressions for messaging platforms like Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX)'s AOL.

However, Kiwee is not a social networking site. "There are already strong players in social networking, such as MySpace and Facebook," said Rajiv Jain, the SVP and general manager of Kiwee, in an interview with me Wednesday. "Instead, we focus on our core strength, which is creating great content."

No doubt, the content is pretty cool. Most importantly, there are a variety of tools to allow for customization, letting users easily create unique online personalities.

So far, it seems the formula is getting traction -- and shows that old companies can still find ways to innovate.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on 60 Minutes on Sunday with a message that may be disappointing for investors looking for a piece of the red hot social networking site: An IPO this year is "highly unlikely".

Zuckerberg, who is worth a reported $3 billion, says he lives in a one-bedroom apartment with a mattress on the floor, and is CEO of a company with 400 employees.

Last year, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) bought 1.6% of the company for $240 million, but doesn't seem ready to take the next step anytime soon:

"I think what I can announce is that it is highly unlikely that we will go public in 2008. And when going public makes sense to do, we'll do that. And maybe that's two years out. Maybe it's three years out."

In spite of Facebook's huge popularity, there is concern that Zuckerberg and company have not yet found a way to monetize it successfully and turn it into a wildly profitable venture. It may be that Facebook plans to wait to go public until it finds a way to do that and score a higher valuation.

But long-term, I see the company's decision not to rush into an IPO as bullish. If Zuckerberg wants to cash out, he could do it right now and and get a nice bed for his mattress. His decision to keep the company private demonstrates a long-term commitment and optimism that the company will be as highly regarded 2 or 3 years down the road as it is now.

When it comes to M&A, few have as much expertise as Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO). But recently, the serial acquirer has been buying up some odd companies – small social networking firms, such as Five Across and Tribe.

Now we are seeing some of the results of these deals: Cisco is launching a new software platform called Eos, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Basically, Eos is an entertainment operating system that will help companies build social networks. Cisco plans to deliver Eos via the Net, not installed software. The business model will entail a subscription fee.

To get some background on this, I had a chance to interview Erick Brownstein, an expert on social networking and operates the Social Media Method blog:

"Cisco's trend antennae have been up, and they are wisely betting on the future of social media. They are combining all of the 'right' ingredients with their content-agnostic, white-label Eos platform. It's not just video and entertainment, but special interest and lifestyle. The data mined will guide not only behavioral advertising, but Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)-style recommendations as well. It'll be interesting to see what other elements they bring into the mix. There's clearly plenty of room out there for a company like Cisco to hold the hands of traditional media companies -- and mid- to large-sized companies across many industries -- that are trying to navigate through the social media landscape."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Founded in 2001, Plaxo was one of the early players in the social networking world. But, like many others in the space, the company has become part of the shadow of biggies like Facebook and MySpace.

So what to do? It seems the answer is: sell out. This is according to a report in the New York Times, which indicates that Plaxo has retained an investment banker, Revolution Partners, to test the waters.

Yet, at the same time, the company is trying to find ways to boost things. Plaxo's new strategy is to try to cleverly suck up users from Facebook and MySpace through a system called Pulse.

There is a new feature for the system which has a special script that scans your friends' pages on Facebook. It wasn't easy to pull off because email addresses are in graphical form on Facebook. But with optical character recognition scanning, it's not a problem for Pulse.

With everyone and their mother trying to capitalize on the social networking fad, news came out recently that M.C. Hammer has a start-up to rival YouTube. This may seem like the bankrupt star is jumping on the bandwagon, but I actually think he may do well with his latest project.

"DanceJam.com. is scheduled to debut in mid-January, and will try to upstage Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) 's YouTube and become the Internet's hub for sharing and watching dance videos. DanceJam then hopes to make money by grabbing a piece of the rapidly growing Internet advertising market, which is expected to rake in $27.5 billion in 2008, according to eMarketer."

I think this has potential because while YouTube is THE dominant player in this space, the fact that Hammer is specializing on one vertical makes it interesting. If he can get traction and become the site specifically for dance video sharing, this may just work. While we may think the shared content space is saturated, I think it's just in it's infancy. Wait until technological advances enable this type of sharing and social networking over the cellphone. That's just going to be a massive market. There are some Israeli start-ups already close to a product on this. The leader is Vringo.

With Hammer's name and celebrity, he may just be able to pull this off and take some significant traffic from YouTube.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer has no position long or short in any stock mentioned as of 1/2/7.