John Battelle's high-end blog ad network Federated Media Publishing has launched an automated ad-planning tool with a simple interface for finding relevant blogs on which to place ads by inputting targeting data such as age, sex, income and lifestyle, reports MediaPost. "It's a good analogy, comparing the site to a dating service for advertisers and bloggers," Battelle is quoted as saying.

FM Publishing's platform requires consent from both parties; bloggers can turn down offers from interested advertisers. "We find it's very rare for a blogger to say no to an advertiser in our experience, but it's important that everyone's comfortable with these relationships."

FM is strictly for "high-quality, high-authority" blogs, according to Battelle, and now includes about 50 blogs, including Boing Boing and BuzzMachine. "It's not about size - it's about the quality of the conversation," he says.