In a recent post on Useit.com, Jakob Nielsen disparages social media outlet Digg as nothing more than an inflation of your bounce rate as its users show up and disappear without delving any deeper into your site. Stan Schroeder of Mashable, social-media’s stalwart defender, quickly rebutted Nielsen’s argument rightly saying that sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit create a buzz off site as opposed to clicking through your pages. As more people find and discuss your page on message boards and in blogs, the more opportunities arise for conversions.

This off-site, multi-channel discussion, the bed-rock of social media optimization, is just what Nielsen overlooks, and what Mashable over-emphasizes.

I know I like lolcats, but I seriously doubt that I would put “can I has a cheezburger” into a search engine no matter the amount of alcohol involved, well, maybe…But that’s beside the point. Without StumbleUpon, I would have never discovered the wonder that is a lolcat or, God forbid, known what white people like. I wouldn’t search for these topics, but based on my browsing history, vague interest categories and total lack of anything better to do; I discovered, found I liked and told others about all of these things and tons more. I even purchased this grill after stumbling upon it at A+R.

My example, whilst conjuring a bit of a rosy view of Stumble and its ilk (I bounce off of pages just as much as the next attention deficit disorder victim,) shows the beauty of social media. I was in the market for a grill, but not actively looking for one when this little guy popped up. I liked it, Googled it, read about it on a few design and cooking blogs, and eventually bought it. I am probably in the minority of users who’ve actually converted, but it goes to show that nobody should discount the collective mind of social traffic sources. Whether it is summer, the beginning of Spring semester or the holidays, Stumblers, Diggers and Reddit-ers(?) have the same thing on their minds as every other consumer out there, you just have to be in the mix to capitalize.

Now, I said that Mashable over-emphasizes the impact of social media, and I meant it; it’s just a little saccharine. If your name is mentioned in blogs or on the Digg boards, without you in the discussion, you run the risk of Google, the best and most-likely-to-convert-users traffic source, turning against you. We only need to look so far as Sen. Rick Santorum to see what the fickle nature of Google can do.

The reason to get in on what users are saying about you is to protect your Google-able ass (no pun intended, Senator) and make sure your SRP’s aren’t overrun with content from boards and blogs. Converting social network traffic is unlikely. You can, with most analytics programs, lengthen the time-to-die on your cookies to measure the effect of social network referrals, but for the most part, you’ll be lucky if you ever see them again. Then again, luck might be more fickle than the Digg crowd…but probably not.