Yelp.com is a blogging network specific to geographic location, that discusses everything from restaurants to real estate to shopping and nightlife. Most shopping centers are currently listed, and include a list of retailers within the center.

Sites like Facebook and MySpace are social networking tools that allow users to join groups and create events and discussions around areas of interest. Groups about particular retailers and centers can be created, complete with discussion boards where members can discuss new trends or changes.

Technorati provides an extensive blog directory, including search options for “Real Estate” and “Fashion.” By clicking on these two keywords, the website directs you to separate blog directories dealing with those sectors of business.

With tools such as Twitter, members can send current thoughts or activities to their “followers” instantaneously. Centers could use this tool to inform shoppers about store openings, special events, sales and holiday hours. Retailers could also find through Twitter what their followers are interested in, and stage events or sales accordingly.

The Google Blog Search is useful as a general search for all blogs on the internet. By searching for a particular retailer or location, the results will list what consumers are saying about its installation.

Nielsen’s Blogpulse is one of many sites that helps those who monitor blogs to discover trends and organize information by searching to see who is talking about you, and specifying trends by keywords for any topic of your choice. For example, if a particular center wants to track blog activity about one of their retailers, it is possible to limit their search to that center and that retailer.