Is your company hesitant to embrace social networking? Maybe you need a light version.

Such is the case with Livebar, the latest offering from white label, social networking solution, Liveworld. Livebar lets you run a “mini social network” on top of your existing website. Imagine the functionality of Facebook or Twitter - chat, forums, blog posts, short format messaging - but running in tandem with your website content - no redirects necessary.

Livebar hibernates on your site until a user activates it - appearing as a translucent box at the bottom of the screen. Check out the screenshots of Tulane University’s Livebar which will go live at the end of this month. Users can engage each other in conversation, “soapbox” (the equivalent of blog posts), or send out a “shout” (similar to Twitter tweets, maximum of 140 characters). Conversations are contextually-relevant to the page visitors are on - i.e. Livebar knows where you are and only serves up conversations about that page.

There is no pricey web design or development costs associated - Livebar runs on a single line of JavaScript and can be deployed within minutes. So if you aren’t ready to jump into the deep end, investing in a small-scale social networking app like Livebar is an easy way to create a community experience for your company or brand.