Shel Israel has done an interesting video interview with Todd Parsons of BuzzLogic. BuzzLogic has a product and service that identifies who are the 'most influential' bloggers and what is happening to an organisations online brand reputation.

As Todd says just at the end of the interview (5.22) ...it is a new gig now. There is a whole section of the public who are influenced by online commentators, reviewers and communities of people. The mainstream media is still influential but the online media is growing in importance.

Todd demo's his companies product. It has a neat interface and gets around the problem of the DIY approach using tools like Google Alerts etc