Questions
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Under review
I'm interested in switching to Facebook commenting, any thoughts?
Any thoughts on Facebook commenting vs BLOX commenting? And if I switch to Facebook commenting do I need a whole new app id? I already have one app id in the site settings for the news feed.
Customer support service by UserEcho
A few thoughts about BLOX Commenting:
1. Some media sites switch to Facebook hoping that commenters will be more responsible when posting under their real names. But, perhaps surprisingly, people say bad stuff even on their Facebook accounts! We have some customers who switched to Facebook comments and then moved away from it.
2. It is becoming more and more important for media sites to have information about their users - whether or not they are subscribers, whether or not they are loyal users, (whether or not they are human rather than a bot!). All of this knowledge is very important to advertisers and to the site's analytics.
When users register in order to comment, that information becomes data that is available to the media site, and can be very valuable (even, as I said before, just the fact that they are a real person!). This information can be critical if you're thinking about using the TownNews.com iQ data management platform.
If you're using another commenting system, that other system then gets that data, and possibly other data on the page about users' traffic patterns and behaviors.
3. Once a user registers for the site, it becomes easier for that user to log in for future transactions - to post content, to buy stuff, to subscribe to the site. Anything that makes things easier for the user is good for the site! :)
4. When you use BLOX Commenting, you control and have access to the comments themselves, so they can go with you if you ever upgrade your system or move to another CMS (not that I would ever recommend such a thing!).
5. BLOX Comments is not dependent on a third-party script to load.
6. When you use BLOX Comments, we show a comment count widget next to the headline, indicating the level of interest.
That being said, here are some thoughts about other comment systems:
1. On the Zen system, we give you the choice between Facebook and BLOX Comments, On the Flex system, we offer BLOX Comments, Disqus, Facebook or Livefyre.
2. While the BLOX Comments system is more integrated into the page, other comment systems are adept at having faster conversations because they update "live" on the page. This can be a great way for users to have more conversational "chats" rather than discussions. (The Livefyre comments actually says how many people are "listening" to a comment thread, which shows the level of interest.)
3. As Adam said, with other commenting systems, the user may already have an account, making it easier to log in and post. This is true with Facebook of course, but Disqus and Livefyre also have easy Facebook/Twitter logins.
4. Livefyre actually has a "guest" mode, so users can post anonymously without logging in anywhere. This could be useful for sections of the site (maybe obituaries?) where there could be a lot of one-time users who don't want to create any account.
5. Disqus is used by many sites, and all users on that system are global with a single user profile. So it is cool that you can click on a user and see all of the comments they post on all Disqus sites on the internet.
That being said, BLOX allows you to set your commenting mode on a per-section basis. So, you can actually choose different commenting systems on different areas of the site.
Maybe you want Facebook for the entertainment section and the Business Directory, but BLOX Comments for news and elsewhere? Or, you can test out a commenting system in one location to see if it seems to catch on, without having to switch your entire site.
Anyway, sorry this is so long - but I hope it helps! =)