You already know what a big fan of Brian Solis I am. This blog post is also going to be dedicated to his efforts and achievements in the area of social media and I am about to show you yet another brilliant piece of work from him and design agency JESS3, namely the fourth version of the so called Conversation Prism (some of you may already be familiar with it) which is a comprehensive visualisation of the social media landscape.

As Brian Solis puts it, the various editions of the prism have managed to capture snapshots of important moments of the history and evolution of social media in the form of evolving infographics. For me the latest version is truly spectacular and to some extent scary – seeing all the platforms and channels available today in just one image is rather mind-blowing!

But before I get to version 4.0, I was thinking it would be interesting to show you all the previous editions starting with the first one from 2008 so that you can get a better overview of how the social media landscape has developed during the past five years (yes, only five!).

Each visual is a result of rigorous research, organising the social platforms in categories based on how we use the networks in our daily and professional lives. The infographics aim to demonstrate how the social web is evolving over time and present professionals with a comprehensive visual of the choices they have in the realm of social media.

Here we go (click on each image for a larger view):

V1.0 (source):

V2.0 (source):

V3.0 (source):

V4.0 (source):

The thing I love the most about V4.0 is how “You” is in the middle. Because it’s true – today it is you and me, it is simply each individual who has the freedom and the power to express and share his/her voice with peers from all over the world in a number of seconds and in real time. And this you and me is and should be each and every marketer, communications specialist or any other professional, because the social web is first and foremost social; it’s about being human, it’s about driving conversations, not pushing messages.

Observing the four editions one after another surely helps you get a very clear picture of the progress and growth of the social media landscape and how complex it has become. It personally gets me even more excited about the future of the social web. What do you think is going to happen next?