Sometimes it seems as if a social site appears and hundreds of articles follow along with it. In the case of Pinterest, Zach Bulygo found a mere 103 resources that he wants to share. There is lots of information in the post, but one thing marketers may not know is the wealth of funding from successful entrepreneurs and investors, including Jack Abraham, Milo founder; Michael Birch, Bebo co-founder; and Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp co-founder.

Google researchers conducted more than 400 studies to examine the effect on businesses after pausing search ad campaigns. The engine claims to have found that more than 89% of traffic generated by search ads is not replaced by organic search results when ads are paused and results are similar across verticals. The findings augment stats released in a white paper last year. It makes sense that incremental clicks declined by 80% when spending decreased.

For those who have doubts that voice and gesture commands will someday augment or replace the need to type keywords into a search box to query information -- something we will talk about at the MediaPost Search Insider Summit in April -- an MIT research group of students explain how gestures combined with technology will guide robot planes used for routine air missions. A more simple method for gesture search can be found in Microsoft Kinect, but this example demonstrates the scope of possibilities and that conducting a search through gestures can become common much more easily. 

Copyright concerns about pinning content not owned by the pinner continue to linger around Pinterest, but consumers keep on pinning, as search engine marketers push forward to create strategies and optimize boards. Sage Lewis, who has begun to see Pinterest pages and boards appear in Bing and Google search results, offers up 10 tips for SEO in Pinterest, including the use of all 500 available characters in the description, and remembering that it's a social media tool.

What implications does Yahoo's Patent Infringement lawsuit have for Facebook? Bill Slawski describes these, providing insight into what it all means. Some might think Yahoo's patent infringement suit against Facebook came out of left field Monday, but the situation was brewing for weeks prior to this. The patents point to Overture ad technology, as well as Yahoo's patents on social networking, advertising, customization, privacy and messaging, according to Slawski. The social networking patent was granted in June 2010 and filed in February 2005.

It is not uncommon for management to become unhappy with a paid-search program showing all the signs of success. George Michie believes it's because of the way marketers sometimes communicate results. He gives us four reasons that managers could become unhappy with a great program. Through a series of examples, Michie shows us how to prevent hiding the most meaningful numbers from management, highlight the correct numbers that drive success, provide metrics to explain changes, and more.

The February list of 40 Google search updates mentioned something about improvements to ranking for local search results, code-name Venice, but Mike Ramsey believes the topic has gone mostly under the radar. The change improves the triggering of local universal results, according to Google. Ramsey takes us through results to tell us what that means. He shows us the common thread to explain why companies rank well in search engine results, points to authoritative local link-building techniques, and how to localize a national approach to SEO.

From the Google developers' house at South by Southwest in Austin on Sunday, we get a glimpse of the Google Developers LEGO MINDSTORMS contest and bot competition, where teams spent the day building LEGO race bots controlled by the Android operating system. For those who do not have the time to sit through the more than 1.5-hour video, skip forward to about 51:40 to view a portion of the race. 

Jeff Bertolucci points us to a trio of the nerdy kind of Easter eggs. Google uses the numeral system from a search query to show matches, he explains. Those interested in taking a look will need to disable the "search plus your world" button. Either click the "hide personal results" button below the search box or sign out.

As of March 2011, 20% of those with a Facebook page ranged between the ages of 13 and 17, with 48% saying kids should be older than 13, according to a SodaHead.com poll. Some 29% of voters think ages should range between 14 and 17 before joining Facebook, and 19% said Facebook users should be 18 or older. No surprise here. When it comes to the parents, findings show that one-third think kids should turn 18 before signing up, while only 13% of those without children thought users should have to wait until they become a legal adult.