This integration and interaction is especially true for bloggers, when you want to connect with other bloggers as well as the community that you’ve built around your own blog.

So, in no particular order, I thought I’d share some tools that might help you (as bloggers) connect more. Feel free to use or abuse.

BackType. It’s no secret that I’ve been a huge fan of BackType since its launch. Allowing you to follow the conversations from anywhere you’ve ever left a comment online, it also allows you to see what the people you’re interested in are saying, and where.

Now, with their new Connect option, they’ve just taken it to a whole new level.

You can see comments from other blog’s about you; how many times your post has been referenced on Twitter, Reddit, Digg, etc; and allows you to see the other conversations that your blog commentators are having. Here’s an example of it in use on this blog (just scroll up a little and you’ll see the info just above the trackback link).

I can see a lot of potential in this addition to BackType’s services and if it helps promote more blogs and conversations into the bargain, that’s got to be a good thing. (If you’re on BackType, you can connect with me here).

Scribnia. This is a pretty new service and one that has just gone into private alpha, so you need an invitation (you can email them for one). What I really like about Scribnia is the idea behind it.

Basically, Scribnia will be an online resource that rates and reviews bloggers, journalists, reporters and more. Using a metric system based on context ratings and mini-reviews that Scribnia members provide, you can soon see who’s worth reading in your areas of interest.

I’m testing it out at the minute and so far it looks a really useful way to sort out the stuff that you really want to read. Think of it as your personal feed recommendation engine. (If you’re on Scribnia, you can connect with me here – note, you  need to be logged in).

MyBlogLog. If you blog and have a Yahoo account, then MyBlog Log is something you should definitely check out. Almost like one huge online community, MyBlogLog has a ton of features that bring bloggers and readers together.

Every time you visit a MyBlogLog-enabled site, your details are remembered. You can then choose to become a member of that blog’s community (see the sidebar plugin on this blog), connect with the blog author, or see other like-minded readers and connect with them.

You can also display all your online identities, so anyone using MyBlogLog can connect with you there as well. The only real downside is that you need a Yahoo account so it may not be for everyone. (If you’re on MyBlogLog, you can connect with me here).

These are just three tools that offer bloggers a great way to connect. There are a few more, and I’ll be looking at some of these in a future post.

How about you? Do you use any of these services? If so, what do you think about them? Or are there others that you’d recommend?

Connecting the Dots originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.