• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, July 24, 2007

Giving Web sites a new stage to see and be seen, word-of-mouth marketing agency BzzAgent has launched a service for its buzz agents to compare, contrast and share various online offerings.

The service, named Frogpond, exists as a section within the BzzAgent community site where agents can discover and "bzz"--or turn on--others to new sites. The Frogpond is open to all of BzzAgent's 275,000 North American "volunteers," while the company plans to grant access to its network of 25,000 U.K. agents in the near future.

For the section, BzzAgent has developed a suite of "pass-along" features enabling agents to review and share sites, along with tracking tools for marketers to closely follow the action.

"This new product promises to make word of mouth more widespread, 'trackable' and measurable than ever before," according to BzzAgent founder and CEO Dave Balter.

The "pond" is presently inhabited by a mixed bag of about 20 sites, including iVillage, dating site OkCupid.com, Sportsvite, travel comparison site Kayak.com, and mobile text messaging site Joopz.

Frogpond is being presented as an opportunity for marketers to get direct, targeted feedback on their digital offerings.

"We are big believers" in word-of-mouth, said Christine Petersen, senior vice president of marketing for TripAdvisor, which also has a presence on Frogpond. "Today, word of mouth can be the predictable result of a planned program."

BzzAgent's community of some 300,000 consumer volunteers take it upon themselves to spread marketing messages to friends and family.