Just checking in

The mobile web picked up some speed this week. PR blogger Brian Solis summarized a Morgan Stanley research report describing a world where two out of every three web users are untethered. O'Reilly Radar corroborated with data showing that one of the jewels of the web, social search, was becoming a mobile phenomenon.

The foursquare system of 'checking-in' at a location is getting a lot of attention. The Bravo TV network launched a plan to engage users by having them check-in at show related locations. The media blog Poynter Online described how Canada's Metro News was using foursquare to push location based reviews to followers. Non-media brands told Ad Age about preliminary data indicating a 'huge potential' for directing traffic via check-ins.

Foursquare and its competitors may find their favorite locations to be extremely crowded very soon. Silicon Alley Insider revealed that Facebook is working on check-in technology meaning that people might soon cruise with their favorite networks and provide an attractive moving target for Facebook advertisers.

• Facebook Groups Vs Pages: The Definitive Guide [All Facebook]
• 20+ mind-blowing social media statistics revisited [eConsultancy]
• Facebook Fan Pages vs. Groups for Marketing and SEO [Fathom SEO]
• Twitter Demographic Report - Who Is Really On Twitter? [Palatnik Factor]
• Tips for Promoting New Blogs [Online Marketing Blog]
• 10 Ways to Build Social Media Expertise Using Personal Web Projects [Harvard Business]
• Turn Your Blog Into a Social Media Hub [Danny Brown]
• 3 New Ways to Measure the Social Web [Mashable]
• American Greetings Launches Twitter Contest for Valentine's Day [ClickZ]
• The 10 Most Useful Facebook Extensions For Google Chrome [All Facebook]

• The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Social Search Engine [John Batelle]
• First lesson on Social search optimization in Google [Jesper Astrom]
• The Top 10 SEO Competitor Tools for 2010 [I need hits]
• Ten Ways to Improve Your AdWords Click-Through Rate [Word Stream]
• Optimizing Page Speed For Ranking Using Google Tools [SEOMoz]
• How to Identify New Trends and Generate Easy Traffic [Keyword Driven]
• Keyword Research with Google Only: No Other Tools Needed [Search Engine People]
• How To Optimize Pay Per Click Advertising & Control Costs [FutureNow]
• 5 Free Link Building Tools for Small Business SEO Campaigns [All Business]

• Ten tips for scoping your e-commerce platform [Econsultancy]
• 5 Places To Create Contact Forms [Developer's Paradise]
• A Look into Registration Buttons in Web Design [Six Revisions]
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• Five free tools to choose perfect colors for your website [Zparacha]
• Splash Pages: Bad for Usability, Bad for SEO [Shimon Sandler]
• Everything You Need to Know About Image Compression [Noupe]
• 10 Useful Tools to Develop, Monitor, Evaluate or Debug Web Pages [Center Networks]

• 7 Tips for Writing Better Email Subject Lines [SitePoint]
• Subscription forms: list growth and sign-up language [Email Marketing Reports]
• The Most Oopsy-Prone Elements Of Email Marketing [Email Insider]
• Using Twitter to Drive List Growth [The Email Wars]

• Customising Google Analytics for your business - 6 key types of customisation [Dave Chaffey]
• Tactics in Web Analytics Visitor Segmentation [SEM Angel]
• How To See Google Analytics Traffic Faster [Blind 5 Year Old]

• A First Taste Of What The Google Tablet Will Look Like (Pics) [Techcrunch]
• Is Facebook becoming a portal? Now 4th largest source of traffic to news sites [Digital Beat]
• Creating Your Personalized News Channel [Facebook Blog]
• HTML5 is Great for Mobile, Developers Say [ReadWriteStart]
• Groupon and the Wannabes [GigaOm]
• Facebook's January US Traffic by Age and Sex [Inside Facebook]
• Coming Soon: Skype for iPhone Over 3G [Mashable]