• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, August 30, 2011

Condé Nast is set to unveil a new online service, Social Sidekick, which aggregates the most popular online content from some of its high-end fashion and lifestyle magazines, drawing on editorial content from W, Glamour, Self, Teen Vogue and Lucky and Style.com.

Gucci will be the exclusive launch advertiser for Social Sidekick, with a high-profile sponsorship scheduled to last through the end of October.

Developed in-house by Condé Nast, Social Sidekick measures the online popularity of content from various Condé Nast titles through Facebook and Twitter shares, likes, and tweets, then brings together the most popular content on a single page.

According to Folio, advertisers will be able to populate part of the page with advertising and catered content attuned to the trending topics on the site, giving their ad messages contextual relevance.

To promote the new service, a Sidekick half-page "slate" will appear alongside or beneath online articles from the publications, with a come-on reading "What's Trending Now!"

Condé Nast Chief Marketing Officer Lou Cona says the company created Sidekick "to cross-market our own brands and provide advertisers with a dynamic environment that can tell a content rich narrative, while tapping into Condé Nast's editorial strength and readership."

In some ways the new Social Sidekick feature resembles other digital initiatives from Condé Nast, including Epicurious.com, which draws on popular food-related content from Bon Appetit and the now-defunct Gourmet, as well as recipes suggested by readers.