Demand Media continues to capture a great deal of attention after launching an IPO, and Google talking about algorithm changes. If you’ve been reading WebProNews lately, we’ve discussed it quite a bit, and our readers have had plenty to say as well. You can browse recent coverage (and comments) here. 

According to a TechCrunch story just published the war against content farms has reached Blekko. WebProNews is seeking to confirm the facts. To learn more about Blekko and its approach to fighting web spam watch the embedded video interview our WebProNews team conducted at Pubcon with Blekko founder Rich Skrenta below.

Demand Media is no stranger to controversy, and the subject of the company’s content and the Google love it receives, has come back into the spotlight as the company launched an IPO this week, and Google is now saying it’s going to alter its strategy on content farms.

Dear Google: First and foremost, my letter to you is not personal. I am a big fan of yours and always have been. You have the best search engine in the World, better than Bing. You have the best web email service. Your Google Docs product is amazing. Don’t even get me started on Google Earth or Google Maps, just unbelievable products. Your analytics product is excellent. Everybody loves Android. All you do is create and create and still give it all away for free.

Last week, Google’s Matt Cutts put up a blog post talking about a shift in focus to content farms, which he defines as "sites with shallow or low-quality content". Most people that read this assumed he was talking about sites like some of those offered by Demand Media (eHow.com, for example), which launched an IPO this week valuing the company at $1.5 billion. 

Google has launched a change in its algorithm, following a post a week ago from Matt Cutts talking about the search engine’s approach to spam and content farms. However, it is still unclear whether this new update is the related to the "content farm" side of things.

Google has stated many times that content should be written for the reader of the content and not to rank in search engines. I assume this would go for YouTube videos as well. It is an excellent approach for search engines to take in my opinion because theoretically if every content producer follows this standard, search results would be filled with high quality relevant links.

Matt Cutts from Google, Harry Shum from Bing, and Rich Skrenta from Blekko spoke on a panel today at the Farsight Summit. Much of the conversation was around the Bing/Google results copying ordeal, but part of the conversation was about search quality in general, and the impact content farms are having on it. 

Last week, Demand Media launched its initial public offering. Today, the company announced the closing of the IPO of 10,235,000 shares of common stock at $17.00 per share. From the release:

Demand Media shares are listing today in the New York Stock Exchange under the DMD symbol, as the company’s IPO of 8.9 million shares priced out at $17 a share (above estimates of $114 – $16). 

The IPO raised a reported $151.3 million valuing the company at just under $1.5 billion. 

Demand Media’s much-anticipated initial public offering is coming next week, according to Kara Swisher, reporting for the Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital. She says numerous sources "with knowledge of the situation" say it will happen after the company’s road show for investors. 

How much do you trust Pluck’s review system?  Apparently not enough, because with the introduction of their new Trust Filters, Demand Media is attempting to improve end-user confidence.

The business of content farms like Demand Media is creating content in the form of articles and videos that search engines will crawl and feature prominently in the long tail of search results. Demand Media and all content farms’ Achilles’ heel is that much of their Internet traffic and revenue relies on Google.

Sometimes sites like Demand Studios, Yahoo’s Associated Content, AOL’s Seed.com, and Suite101 are called names like "content farms" or "content mills". You can call them whatever you like, but the fact of the matter is that they’re attracting a lot of writers and producing a lot of content, which is appearing in a lot of search results for better or worse.

Here at BlogWorld, Demand Media launched the Demand Media Blog Network, to syndicate bloggers’ content across Demand’s own properties like eHow and Livestrong.com, as well as the company’s Content Channels partner sites.

Some major news organizations that make up the Internet Content Syndication Council are reportedly working on some guidelines for content syndication for their own collective membership, while providing an example for others to go by.

The council includes the Associated Press, Reuters, CBS, The Tribune Company, and many others. Here’s the full list of companies represented:

MacRumors has posted photos of what are supposedly pieces of the upcoming iPod Touch 4 with FaceTime. These have yet to be confirmed, however.

AppleInsider reports that Apple is rumored to be in talks to buy a Chinese mobile ISP and game developer for $148 million.

So-called content farms draw a lot of criticism for a supposed lack of quality and some consider them a threat to quality on the web in general. We’re talking about entities like Demand Media, Associated Content, the new AOL, etc. (the definition of the term content farm itself is also debated).

Beauty and entertainment company Bankable, of which Tyra Banks is the CEO, has struck a deal with Demand Media, which will culminate in an interactive web property, an online video series and a set of mobile apps. Tyra Banks will also become a shareholder in Demand Media.

Google was recently granted a patent called "Identifying inadequate search content" that the Financial Times says appears to replicate part of the Demand Media approach to algorithmic content – a style of content production that is becoming increasingly popular among media c

Update: Quinn Daly, senior vice president, Corporate Communications at Demand Media has gotten back to us with the following comments: