Summize, the former review aggregation site that has since shifted focus to Twitter search, has signed an interesting distribution deal with The Huffington Post that may foretell the future direction of the company.
Abdur Chowdhury of Summize tells me that while this was done through a business development deal with The Huffington Post, his company will soon be offering up a widget that any site can use to add similar functionality. Why might one want to do that? As I’ve mentioned before, I think tools like Summize and Tweetscan are amazing tools for brand management. As a web publisher, if you offer tagging or search functionality, adding links to relevant conversations is a nice value-add for your readers that will keep them on your site. And with search ad revenue typically paying a lot better than display ads, the more search queries you’re able to drive, the more money that flows to your bottom line.