Why use Lijit?

Lijit connects you with your trusted network of friends and experts while you search and surf the internet. Your network can also help you discover things on the web you may have never seen before. Learn more about Lijit

Ok, so I just created a brand new account on Lijit. Now what?

The first thing you should do is build your trusted network by adding people, information sources, and organizations that you trust. There are a couple primary ways to do that: 1) You can send invitations to friends to join or 2) You can simply browse through existing Lijit informers and when you've found one you like, just click the big green TRUST button at the top of their profile page. This adds them to your trusted network. The more informers in your network, the more fun and interesting Lijit gets, so hop to it. Be sure to also read Getting Started with Lijit. It willl help you get off on the right foot.

An informer is source of reports. They may be another Lijit user, an RSS, OPML or ATOM feed (like is provided by delicious or your favorite news site or blog), or an organization (like Health on the Net). If an informer is in your trusted network, their reports will be visible in your searches, browser sidebar, and Lijit List.

What’s a report?

A report is like a bookmark but can also be used to warn others about bad or dangerous sites. A report may also contain comments from the author and a list of subjects (i.e. tags) that the author associates with that content.

What happens when I trust someone in Lijit?

Trusting an informer creates a one-way connection between you and them. If they know you, then they'll probably trust you back. When you trust an informer, they become closer to you within your network. The informers that those informers trust are then a little further away, and so on. Lijit uses this “closeness” to determine what information is more (or less) important to show you in your Lijit List, in search results, in the reports you see in your sidebar and toolbar as you browse, etc.

Can I stop trusting someone?

You bet! You can always untrust an informer by visiting their page and clicking the big yellow UNTRUST button. If you decide you want trust them again, you can always re-visit their page and click the big green TRUST button.

I’m totally sick of seeing (insert informer name here)’s reports. How can I make sure I never see them again?

If you encounter an informer whose reports you no longer want to see – for whatever reason – you can block them. Just visit their page and click the big yellow BLOCK button. (Note: If you've trusted them before, you'll have to first untrust them, and then block them to ensure you don’t see their reports.) By blocking someone, you’ll no longer see their reports in your Lijit List, sidebar, or search results. You’ll also block their reports from being shown to those who trust you.

What’s the Lijit add-on and what does it do?

The Lijit add-on is the secret sauce that connects you to all your trusted informers as you surf the internet. There are versions for both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox and when installed, both produce a Lijit toolbar and sidebar for your browser. Every time you visit a new web page the add-on finds reports about that page from within your trusted network and displays them to you in your new Lijit toolbar and sidebar. The add-on also enhances, by showing relevant reports next to search results in most popular search engines. Additionally, the toolbar can reorder your search results to move links higher if they have been commented on by users you know and trust.

Which browser should I use?

Lijit works with both Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. We think the Firefox toolbar provides a better experience, but we’re biased. :)

What’s the Lijit List?

Your Lijit List is a list of what is most popular within in your trusted network right now. Unlike other sites where everyone's vote counts equally, informers closer to you have more influence than those far from you. Your Lijit List will change constantly based on time and the makeup of your network. It’s a fantastic place to discover new sites you may not have heard of ever before and makes a rockin' browser homepage.

I see reports, but who are the informers who’ve entered them? I don’t know them.

Lijit shows you reports generated by the informers you trust, and the informers they trust, and so on (with the most importance given to reports from informers closest to you). If you see a report displayed from an informer you don’t know, you’re probably connected to them through someone else. If you click that informer's picture to go to their profile page, at the top of the page you’ll see a chain showing how you’re connected. If you really like what they have to say and want to elevate the importance of their reports in your world, click the big green TRUST button to add them to your network.

When I look at reports I see something like “(2 hops)”, what does that mean?

The number of hops represents how close an informer is to you in your trusted network. So a report coming from someone that is 2 hops away was written by a friend of one of your friends. Your friend would then only be 1 hop away from you. Reports are given less importance in Lijit the farther (i.e. the more hops) the author is away from you. If you want to see how you’re connected to an informer (i.e. who’s involved in each hop), click on that informer's picture to go to their profile page and at the top of the page you’ll see a trust chain showing how you’re connected.

What is the “Add RSS Informer" link and what does it do?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Syndicated feeds are streams of content available from many different sites. For instance, news sites like CNN or MSNBC have RSS feeds, as do most blogs and social bookmarking sites. In Lijit, an informer can just as easily be a person or one of these streams of information (including OPML and ATOM feeds). If you add an RSS informer to your trusted network, the stream of news items or blog entries from that feed will become reports in your network.

Lijit reports are rated by their authors as good, bad or dangerous. Lijit then shows you this information in your browser toolbar, sidebar and in search results. They’re especially useful in helping you decide which search result or web pages might provide the most relevant information to you.

What happens when I invite someone?

When you send an invitation to someone, Lijit sends them an email and invites them to become a Lijit user. When they respond, they'll select a user name and you'll automatically become the first trusted informer in their network. Invite someone now.

Is there a Lijit Toolbar for AOL's browser?

Sadly, no. The AOL browser is a closed universe of non-sharing, in our opinion. We would support AOL if we could, but for now you have to use Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer. However, you AOL folks can get most of Lijit's functionality by using bookmarklets.

Does Lijit work with [insert your computer type here]?

Lijit works with any platform that supports Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer, which is basically everything. For people with other browsers, you can get most of Lijit's functionality by using bookmarklets. We even have a user on Solaris, remember that OS…? :)

Lijit kind of feels like del.icio.us. You seriously don’t expect me to move my bookmarks do you?

No way. Lijit believes in the vacuum model–we’ll suck in data from anyone, anything, anywhere. RSS, OPML or ATOM feeds from any service (including del.icio.us, blinklist, Flickr, etc.) can be added to your network. Just click the Add RSS Feed link in the Lijit website header and you’re golden. (And if it's your own RSS Feed which you're adding, be sure to check the "This is me" box.)

There seems to be way more good “Green Stars” than other ratings in the reports I see.

You'll see the other ratings if you somehow come across pages for which informers in your trusted network have entered bad or dangerous reports. But feel free to mark things as bad also–if a site’s content is lame, that’s important information to share with your trusted network. (Just ask Stan about PayPal, or Todd about Comcast, geez.) And definitely be sure to mark things as dangerous if you run across sites that install spyware, try to steal passwords, or do other nasty things.

What are ‘Subjects” when entering a report?

Subjects are just single words or phrases separated by commas that make it easy to search for and find information later. They are often called "tags", but we thought it would be nutty fun to call them "subjects" instead. The rule of thumb with subjects is, use ‘em early and use ‘em often. Subjects make the Lijit world go ‘round (along with the people in your network and entering reports, of course).