I’m often asked how I keep up with new media trends. Here’s a simple rule to keep in mind: “People interested in creating new, transparent and modular forms of communication are usually documenting it somewhere online.”

A great example of this is Slideshare.net. A “YouTube for Powerpoint,” Slideshare.net plays host to a number of presentations given at top web conferences around the world, like South By Southwest Interactive, and Enterprise 2.0.

(Slideshare.net also allows you to upload PDFs, so the possibilities for embedding it in your own site are pretty limitless.)

Many presentations can be understood without the accompanying speaker. Others will give me just enough information to go Googling for more. I will often add the blogs of useful speakers to my RSS feeds, or add them as contacts in my other social networks.

Here are some recent finds of merit.

Can Social Networking Build Your Brand?

This presentation gives a fairly cogent answer to the question, How can I use social networking and viral marketing to build my brand?

Bottom up Tagging

This presentation will be most valuable for those already familiar with the concepts of tagging, folksonomy and taxonomy. [Web.aan.org on Folksonomies.] It provides some valuable diagrams that explain the value of tagging from the escalation of personal to social.