Five Best Commenting Platforms for your Blog

This is a guest post by Mark Dwayne.

Blogs typically have their own commenting section in their pages. However, for some reasons, it is common for some blogs to deactivate their commenting section due to some strategic reasons. It is always a good practice to have a vibrant commenting section to initiate conversation amongst users. After all that is the purpose of having a blog. This can be more so, especially if it is a third-party commenting platform. They will provide a good measure of connection to other social websites like twitter, Facebook, just to name couple of them. They can possibly bring in more readers and build a community by itself.

There are scores of well-known third-party commenting platforms that you can choose for your blog. Here are the top five commenting platforms you may want to try for your website/blog. Each has its specialty and features.

1. Of the many third-party commenting platforms, ‘Disqus’ is a platform you may not like to miss, including the many add-ons that come with it. Some of the special features are:
   • It has an intuitive interface and everything is in real time. That means you get every comment emailed to you so that you can reply to them immediately or simply follow them.
   • It is possible to attach media along with comments, because, it is integrated with sites like You Tube and Flickr.
   • You can use services like Facebook and Twitter, and use their login identity for sharing stuff. The fact is that the USP of Disqus closely connects to social networks as well as its abilities to keep track of comments.
   • There are moderation tools and anti-spam technology incorporated so keep it safe from spammers. It is possible to exclude specific words within comments. You can have blacklists or white lists as you want.
   • Have plugin modules for Drupal, WordPress besides excellent support for mobile devices. It is also possible to integrate with Tumblr and Blogger.

   

2. IntenseDebate is another good commenting platform to which you can give your thoughts. It comes from automatic, the people behind WordPress. See what they offer. The popularity of IntenseDebate is increasing day by day.
   • It is possible to integrate with community tools like Facebook Connect Open ID.
   • You can reply to comments through e-mail, get email notification, and have nested comments facility.
   • Offers full social media integration with user’s own profiles.
   • Akismet provides Spam protection. There is provision for comment moderation, blacklists and while lists. It is possible to assign jobs to admin with appropriate privileges.
3. The third most popular commenting platform is Livefyre. Everything here happens on real time. Therefore, you can reply to comments instantly and receive comments at the same time. Some of the better-known names that use Livefyre are The Sun, The New York Times, AOL, and Bloguin.
   • Livefyre offers excellent connectivity with social networks like its other third-party comment support competitors with the added advantage of tagging Facebook friends. This feature lets you bring in more people into a conversation.
   • There is a live stat on commenting and listening.
   • All users can have their own profile on Livefyre with information on email responses and links, Comments are extremely SEO friendly, which means that your site’s page rank will improve.
   • High quality tools for moderation and spam control.
   • Excellent interface which is highly intuitive and easy to use.
   • Livefyre is free to use with standard features, but for customization, you will need to pay.
4. Echo is another feature rich third-pay platform you can consider for your website’s commenting needs. It is complete in the sense that it can, include forums, polls, real time sharing, and comments. Echo is better suited for business rather than personal blogs. A unique feature is its ability to synchronize with Facebook fan pages and Twitter conversation. Major users of Echo are The Washington Post, ESPN and others.
5. If you are inclined for using Facebook more than others are, then Facebook Comment Box will serve your purpose in many ways. Feature wise it is a little less than what its competitors are. The commendable features are relevancy with comments from friends presented at the top, moderation tools, grammar checkers and many more. What you may not like is the frame structure of the tool.

So, these were some of the commenting platforms that you can integrate with your blog or website. All the specified platforms are reliable and safe, as they offer quality security against spammers and abusers. You can definitely use all of them. So, integrate any of these according to your preferences and niche and bring out the liveliness of your blog.

About the author
This guest post is brought to you by Mark Dwayne of buytimewarnercable.com, a site that offers savings and current information on time warner cable.