Its officially 2008, and as we kick the New Year off, its always good to revisit basics and best practices, especially in an online world this fastpaced and chaotic . To that effect, we came across a some useful insight from some of the folks who influence us, and wanted to share.

Check out ReadWriteWebs 36 tips for start-ups, which cover everything from software engineering to PR. Even if you are not a start-up company, there are some excellent recommendations in here - we certainly took notice!

Robert Scoble throws his 2 cents in with a great addition to the PR suggestions - add something meaningful to the conversation. Whether its tapping enabling technologies like Twitter to forge new relationships or push a message, creation and distribution of your own unique content, or simply showing up and chatting with people at local meet-ups, being an authentic contributor to the conversations you care about is key.

And, to that end, we thought this recent post by Mike Manuel of Media Guerilla was worth a shout out. A great reminder that "its all the unspoken, unexpected and undervalued stuff that must happen every day to keep a healthy 'conversation' going. For this reason, its a huge defining factor between the success or failure of a social media program." A great reminder for all companies looking to drive any kind of marketing or PR program via these new channels that it's not always about what social media can do for you...but what you can do for social media.

Heres to a 2008 full of healthy, productive and colorful conversations!