BuzzLogic has launched a service to track social media and identify influencers that can then be targeted by marketed.

BuzzLogic's web-based application follows online conversations, including in the blogsophere, to identify not merely the most popular but the most influential players, writes ClickZ. "We are providing our customers tools that will allow them to actually manage social media as a channel…. Rather than look at thousands or tens of thousands of blogs, we say here are the 10 or 20 most influential," BuzzLogic CMO Bob Schettino is quoted as saying.

The company uses four metrics to determine influence: a site's contextual relevance to a topic area specified by the client, frequency of content publication on the topic, number of inbound links, and traffic. The tool then visually maps the top influencers of conversation.

The starting price is $500 a month for basic mapping and reporting. Among the beta testers have been Lenovo and Waggener Edstrom.