Last month Google announced the release of a beta version of industry benchmarking. This recent feature allows Google Analytics users to measure their site’s performance against others in their market as well as seeing how one particular niche compares to others in a specific industry.

You have to opt in to the service and once you do you can find it in your site stats navigation under the “Visitors” section. In this section there are a variety of charts that show your site’s traffic in blue compared against other sites, which are shown in gray. This allows you to see data such as if visitors stay longer on your pages versus other pages in markets similar to yours or you can compare your daily traffic changes with that of your industry to see if your ups and downs are occurring across the board.

The entire program is anonymous and therefore the information you se is an aggregated total rather than just information from one site. Google is hoping that this data, which was a commonly requested thing, will provide insights to users that have been previously unseen.

This benchmarking has at least one stipulation though. It only works if companies chose to share their data with the system. For that Google also introduced a new data-sharing setting page. If you chose to share your information it isn’t shown individually at any point. It’s simply collected and shared anonymously as was previously mentioned.

A lot of people classify Twitter as microblogging because this social networking service allows users to send updates called tweets to the Twitter web site. These tweets can be up to 140 characters long and you can send them using your cell phone, instant messenger or third-party applications like Facebook. While it may just sound like a lot of fun, Twitter is also a good way to network with both clients and people in your field.

When you use twitter updates are displayed on your profile page as well as delivered to any users that signed up to receive them. So, if you wrote a blog post you could twitter about it and everyone in your twitter network would be updated that you’ve just posted something. Which works well if you have a lot of followers on twitter.

If you don’t have many twitter followers don’t fret. Everyone starts with zero. A great way to meet new people interested in what you have to say is to send a message to track a specific keyword. You’ll receive posts on that keyword which will introduce you to some of the people in your field, people who may be interested in what you’re talking about.

Twitter also allows you to “nudge” people. A nudge in Twitter-speak is a friendly reminder to update a twitter account. You can also set up an auto-nudge to remind yourself to update your Twitter account every so often. Sending out nudges to your social contacts will likely make them feel special because you are taking the time to notice what’s happening in their lives. Auto-nudge is helpful because it allows you to continuously update your account with the important things you’re doing.

A final way to successful network on Twitter is to share your friends with others. If some of the people you follow are a good match for those following you can share their bookmarks to their Twitter feeds. Another option is to showcase some of your favorite Twitter members in a blog. Perhaps the people you showcase will return the favor.

The key thing to remember in social networking is the social aspect. Humans have a tendency to be curious and occasionally a bit voyeuristic. Twitter allows us to indulge that side of our personalities while meeting potential colleagues in our fields.

While there are many people who are quite willing to announce the death of the Yellow Pages, it hasn’t quite happened yet. Although, the monopoly print yellow pages had over local businesses has been broken by the advent and increasing use of tools like Local Search.

One of the biggest reasons the yellow pages are still alive and well is that there are lots of audiences that the Internet still doesn’t reach effectively. Demographics that include things such as age, income and geographical area affect Internet usage and will likely continues to do so far into the future.

Additionally, the tools that are available for local search aren’t quite perfect yet. Many of the online resources are trusted like the Yellow Pages are. And many consumers don’t believe they are as comprehensive as the print edition is known to be.

Beyond that there are plenty of small towns in America with small businesses that simply don’t have an Internet presence. While this may seem crazy to urban livers, the only way to find a local plumber in one of these places is word of mouth or the local Yellow Pages. Often times these businesses may not even have a basic web site or email address.

Another situation where the Yellow Pages trump the Internet is vacation. Many people unplug while they are out of town. Not to mention those that don’t have laptops and are still using only a desk top. However, the Yellow Pages can be found in any hotel around the United States when someone is looking for a local restaurant or business.

Beyond that, many people find it hard to browse pages and pages of restaurants rather than alphabetically finding what they are looking for. While the technology is certainly starting to come around, it’ll still be some time before the Yellow Pages draw its last breath.