Ever visit a blog for the first time, and wonder if they have other posts that might be interesting to you, or wonder what other readers like you found popular? What about wondering if there were other blogs like the one you were reading that had similar content? A new offering called LiveFlows, from the team behind AssetBar and FanFlows, is now available to do just that - hoping to show each visitor the most enticing posts for them, based on how they found your site.

Companies like Outbrain are working to help readers see related items from your own blog and others in their network, while Lijit is working to show you related items that are in your social graph. LiveFlows' approach breaks up the potential content based on whether you have a new visitor, one who found you from search, or even to track what they call "dedicated fans", showing them stories they haven't yet read.

The LiveFlows widget, rather than being tacked on to each post or positioned in your sidebar, operates in a thin bottom bar at the base of each blog using it, just like you can see here on louisgray.com, on the liveflows.com blog and on other trial sites, including Jesse Stay's Staynalive.com and on Bryce Roney's blog.


LiveFlows Says "You Might Like These" Popular Posts
The widget has two parts. The first says "You might like these", showing other pages from the site, with a % probability based on other readers' statistics and your own history. The second says "View my network", highlighting the best content found in blogs that are connected using LiveFlows.


LiveFlows Highlights Other Top Posts In My Network
If you add LiveFlows to your blog, you can connect with other LiveFlows users just by clicking "Join My Network" on any widget you find on the Web, and you can see statistics for how many times users across the LiveFlows network clicked through to your content. LiveFlows' goal is to find your best content, feature it and promote it to new users, both of your site and of others. It's a solid way to get your posts more visibility, as you see fit.


You Can Check On Your Network at LiveFlows.com
Check out LiveFlows at http://www.liveflows.com.

When I met with the Lijit team in Boulder earlier this year, they asked an important question around brand loyalty. While I was already a user of Lijit, did I feel a loyalty to their brand over others? I thought a bit, and answered honestly, that I didn't (or at least not much). I said that if Google were to deliver an equal or better product to theirs, they were already the trusted name in search, and I would at least give them a shot. Today, Google has done just that, taking an element from Blogger In Draft, and releasing it into the wild. It's one of the many steps required to complete the marathon I told you about last week.

As Blogger announced today, the new Search Box gadget searches not only your own posts, but Web pages you link from your blog and blogs in your list (like a blogroll). This is quite comparable to Lijit's offering (see right sidebar), where users can search my blog, my social activity, and my blogroll.

I haven't yet installed the Google Blog Search gadget on my own blog yet, partly due to the fact I am using an older template, and don't yet want to break what works. But you can see the widget in action on Product Manager Rick Klau's blog on the right side.


Searching Rick Klau's Blog for FTP


Searching Links from Rick Klau's Blog for FTP


Searching the Web for FTP
For example, searching his blog for "FTP" displays the results in line on the blog without a pop-up window or going to a new page. I can click "Linked From Here" to see pages that have linked to Rick that also mention the term "FTP", or lastly, I can search "The Web" at large.

It is an elegant solution, so far as I can tell.

So what does this mean for Lijit? Lijit is striving to find a way to measure influence, as well as to develop an advertising network that is trusted for bloggers that use its products, so this doesn't mean the mighty Google swoops in and erases Lijit of the face of the Web. But Lijit will have to work hard to better define itself and make it differentiated from what Google offers - especially for Blogger users who haven't yet considered moving to WordPress.

Although it has been a few months since SXSW 2009 came and went, rich media from the event is continuing to trickle forth. The major reason I even attended the annual tech shindig was to participate on a panel discussing the issue of going "Beyond Aggregation", sitting alongside other folks you might know, including Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb, who moderated, Gabe Rivera of Techmeme, Melanie Baker of PostRank and Micah Baldwin of Lijit.

Melle helpfully found an MP3 Podcast file from the panel, and posted it to her site today. Still no video, but at this pace, it could be another six months or so for that to leak out, although 100 interviews posted a short video piece with me just after the panel had concluded, and it got written up by Phil Glockner that day.

Our discussion ranged from how to discover new data, to whether communities are growing outside the world of tech, and whether you can measure influence. You can download the 1 hour long audio clip and listen at your leisure here:

Download MP3 File (20 MB)

Ninth Edition Of a Monthly Series (combined with Mike Fruchter's efforts)

FriendFeed would simply be a quiet network featuring a mess of links and no interaction if it were not for the "Friend" portion of the service's name. With hundreds of thousands of known users, it can be hard for some to break through and become visible, beyond bringing a brand name from previous activity. But, with participation, many do, and we are more than eager to highlight them in this monthly feature, our ninth. As always, we strive to not miss anyone, so if you believe you or others should be included, you know how to reach us - in the comments, via e-mail, and of course, on FriendFeed.

May 2009's featured FriendFeeders are:

1) Mark Evans

Short Bio: Mark Evans is Managing Principal at Bancroft Research Group, where he develops competitive intelligence products and services for startups and Fortune 500 companies. He is also the President-elect of the American Marketing Association's San Francisco chapter. Mark is also father of four-year-old triplets, two girls and a boy.

What they find interesting: Marketing, Technology, Productivity

FriendFeed: Subscribe

2) Sheryl Breuker

Short Bio: Sheryl, along with her husband Ken Camp, runs Stardust Global Ventures, a business venture focused on mobile technology, casual computing, social media and how technologies are being integrated both at the office and at home.

What they find interesting: Podcasting, Social Media, Entertainment

FriendFeed: Subscribe

3) Thomas Power

Short Bio: Thomas Power is the Chairman of Ecademy, a business-focused social network, based in the UK. He is a professional speaker, has authored six books and was previously an advisor to BT and Microsoft.

What they find interesting: Google, social networking, startups

FriendFeed: Subscribe

4) Rochelle

Short Bio: Rochelle is the wife of Akiva Moskovitz (who we featured last month), a new mother to Audrey, and a self-proclaimed FriendFeed "superstar". She is an avid photographer.

What they find interesting: Family, News, Photography

FriendFeed: Subscribe

5) Biill Romanos

Short Bio: Bill Romanos is General Counsel at Florida Turbine Technologies, an Aerospace & Defense company. He has experience in corporate and securities law, and is an expert on intellectual property, corporate and securities law.

What they find interesting: Defense, Intelligence, Technology, Security

FriendFeed: Subscribe

6) Anika Malone

Short Bio: Anika calls herself an "opinionated mama". Mother to a young boy and girl, Anika operates in the cross-section of politics, family and technology, one day debating party affiliations, and the next, discussing food or getting rid of baby gear, assuming the family is complete. Anika lives in Southern California, and is married to Adrian Culici.

What they find interesting: Politics, Culture, Family

FriendFeed: Subscribe

7) Rick Bucich

Short Bio: Rick Bucich helps manage the marketing and social media activity for Tiny Prints, a photo card and stationary company based in Mountain View. He is a photography expert, and father to a young boy, JR.

What they find interesting: Photography, Social Media, Marketing

FriendFeed: Subscribe

8) Anne Bouey

Short Bio: If it wasn't for Anne Bouey, it's possible FriendFeed wouldn't exist. Why? Because she is mother to one of the site's cofounders, Jim Norris. Interestingly, it's very possible she uses the product even more than he does.

What they find interesting: News, Politics, Entertainment

FriendFeed: Subscribe

9) John E. Bredehoft

Short Bio: John Bredehoft, based in Ontario, California, is a product marketing consultant for MorphoTrak, having recently joined the company after nine years as a product manager for Motorola, where he was focused on fingerprint identification systems. John runs a blog network called Empoprises, a series of vertical sites with distinct focus.

What they find interesting: Technology, Business, Transportation

FriendFeed: Subscribe

10) Rachel Fox

Short Bio: Rachel Fox is a media consultant for non profits, a hobbyist photographer and a foster mom for kittens in need. Rachel is also married to Kevin Fox, a FriendFeed employee. Rachel's feed, swimming amidst a world of techies, is always entertaining.

What they find interesting: Animals, Photography

FriendFeed: Subscribe