Lithium's new approach creates a flow of information from the social web into your community. The result is the creation of valuable content, community-driven support, and the identification of engaged customers. The only stumbling block may be the ambiguity behind the company's new messaging.

Released this week, Lithium's new suite takes their previously forum-centric software and ushers it in to a Web dominated by Facebook and Twitter. Unfortunately, they've decided to brand themselves with a buzzword that lacks a fixed meaning in the market currently.

The social CRM (or CRM 2.0) label may be accurate when applied to Lithium, but it depends on which definition you pick. We've seen vendors tout CRMs with internally-focused collaborative features called as such, but what it commonly means is CRMs connected in some way to public social media or support systems. With such a wide ranging use of the term, Lithium is likely to have a hard time maintaining a clear and focused message on what the software actually does.