BuzzLogic Buys BlogRovr

In a move that is grabbing the attention of bloggers everywhere, BuzzLogic has acquired Blogrovr. BlogRovr is an OPML browser plug in that lets users see content from their favorite bloggers that is relevant to what they are reading. It is owned by a company called Activeweave (it is actually the parent company, Activeweave, that was acquired).

This is a move that has big implications from a data portability standpoint, and one that could mean more ads intruding on your blogging experience. BlogRovr is a cool plug in, and one that indirectly "rates" blogs. The more users include a blog in their list of blogs to grab relevant content from, the higher that blog is rated in relevance. As long as it has been as a stand alone plug in, that just means a better surfing experience for users, but think of what that could mean for advertisers as part of an ad delivery network.

BuzzLogic also owns a property called Conversation Targeting. Conversation Targeting is an ad delivery service that matches advertisers and ads with blog publishers. Having BlogRovr in the stable means that BuzzLogic can now use the data you inadvertently supply them by selecting blogs you like to supply you with more (and possibly more relevant) ads during your surfing experience.

BuzzLogic already tracked blogs by influence. That influence rating is based on who is linking in to the blog, how many readers they have and other statistics. Now the advertisers have a nifty little tool that tells them the flip side of the equation - what we are reading about, and from where. This has obvious benefits to advertisers, but could seem a bit intrusive for the average reader.

The Activeweave family of properties includes Blogrovr and Stikis. Mark Meyer and Jean Sini, creators of BlogRovr and Stikis, will be continuing to work with their products under the BuzzLogic umbrella. Meyer will become the SVP of Products and Sini will become the CTO. The purchase has more positive implications than negative ones. Most of all it shows other Web 2.0 companies that offering something that is truly useful, more than just a "feature", will get your company the attention it needs to make money.

Update: see the comments section for a response from Jean Sini