Of course it's useful. What is a back-link other than a recommendation for a website? The internet has changed. Most people on the internet no longer publish an

Of course it's useful. What is a back-link other than a recommendation for a website? The internet has changed. Most people on the internet no longer publish anything, so we're effectively seeing an oligarchy when it comes to ranking information on the internet. Using various forms of social media is a way to again democratize the access to information. To do this you have to go where the recommendations are. They used to be by linking to a website from your own. Of course that is going to remain a large component, but any company would be foolish to write off using social linking as a source for recommendations.