We thought that today we would just cast a quick glance over the general search/internet landscape as there is so much going on right now.

• Pronet Advertising analyses some research about how embracing social media has effected the traffic on the USA Today website. I’m glad to say that it has really paid off!
• They also talk about new Web 2.0 site Meshly, which blends aspects of digg and Twitter. I have to say that I think this sort of site adds nothing to the Web 2.0 cause, and strikes me as a perfect example of a site with a cool name & logo, but not much of a business plan.
• Search Engine Land carries a very informative and rather lengthy report on what exactly PageRank is by (who else?) Danny Sullivan. Essential reading for anyone interested in seeing what it was that made Google so different when it first came out.
• Link Building Blog has an interesting (& rather tongue in cheek) case study of how on & offline media interact to create a buzz. Their example? American Idol - the US version of our very own Pop Idol.
• Finally, I’d like to point you in the direction of Hugh MacLeod’s Gaping Void blog and this post which gets back to the basics of what we’re all here for. Even if your business isn’t IT, the principle remains the same. In case you’re wondering who Hugh is, he’s the guy who came up with the 40% off at Thresher voucher which went viral, generating £15m of business in the process.

Happy reading!

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