Informers within the Lijit world may be people or any kind of RSS, OPML or ATOM feed; they are simply someone or something that generates reports on web sites, web pages, blog posts, etc. (We don’t discriminate; if someone or something has valuable information to contribute to the trusted networks within Lijit, they are / it is welcome to join in the fun.) Informers are also the building blocks of trusted networks within Lijit. As you add your other internet identities into your Lijit account, trust other informers, and as other informers trust you, you build networks. Lijit then uses the trusted network of informers you’ve created to determine what reports to display when you’re surfing around the Lijit website, surfing the ‘net in general, searching through an informer's Personal Network Search, or searching for information using Google, Yahoo!, or Ask. It’s the same thing that happens in your real-life social network; if you feel someone (or something) has valuable information and guidance to offer you, you’ll find a way to connect with them. And you’ll probably share that information and guidance with your network of friends too. Your network (in real life or within Lijit) doesn’t stop with just the people to whom you’re connected directly. You also receive value from friends of friends, and friends of their friends, and so on. In Lijit we display how “close” someone is to you in your network through the use of hops. Someone you trust is one hop away from you, while their friend would be two hops away, and so on. Lijit then uses those hops to determine the prominence with which an informer’s reports are displayed to you in your Lijit List and as you browse, etc.