What’s the best way to get on your users’ desktops than give them free toolbar downloads? I’m not particularly fond of browser toolbars myself, though, since they take up precious browser real estate, and I still associate them too much with those sneaky spyware. But b5media thinks their readers get a better experience from having the network’s blogs more accessible, with the b5media toolbar.

We’re constantly on the look out for new ways to make it easier to find all the great content that our bloggers create. So, we’re really excited about the official launch of the b5media Toolbar (alpha version) – a quick and easy download that’s installed on your browser.

Here’s what you get: – You can get to any page on the main site easily – You can get to various areas of the forums quickly – You can chat with other b5 users in the toolbar chatroom – You can read content from across the network right in the toolbar (and then click through to read more) – We can send all toolbar users alerts – And you get regular features such as a popup blocker, search, e-mail notification, and the weather.

The best feature here, in my opinion is the user-to-user chat. That’s one way to build up a good community. However, I would tend to think that such a feature could have been best implemented on a Webpage and not on the browser itself. With most applications today moving away from the desktop and towards Web apps, you’d think people wouldn’t bother with installing local software anymore. And then of course, the more tech savvy crowd would probably be a bit wary about installing browser toolbars and such add-ons.