Seems there’s a new piece of social software appearing online every day – and with so much around it’s difficult, not only to keep up with it all, but to make an informed decision about what is worth using etc.

Thanks to some of the people in the blogosphere who seem to have more time than I do to explore these sorts of things, and who are prepared to share what they have found, I don’t need to do this!

Don Hinchcliffe has recently posted his Best of Web2.0 Software for 2006 in which he lists his “winners” in six categories – and the runners up. He also includes a list of “honourable mentions” which I found interesting. His list makes you realise just how many of these applications are out there, and just how sophisticated many of them are becoming. I was interested to note that Don rates StumbleUpon ahead of del.icio.us in the social bookmarking category. I use both, but would have to say that I still prefer del.icio.us – particularly now that I have installed it as a Firefox plugin!

Meanwhile, Robin Good has published his list titled Personal Productivity: The Best Tools And Services From Sharewood. Robin’s list contains his selection of some of his preferred personal productivity tools from the over 560 mini-reviews Master New Media published in 2006 through their weekly Sharewood Picnics feature. As his title suggests, Robin’s list focuses on productivity tools rather than the social software apps that Don has in his list – thus there’s plenty in both of these lists to keep you exploring and experimenting for some time.

Thanks to Don and Robin for sharing this with us!