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Adding Community To The Comments
Some of you might have noticed icons/faces next to some of the comments on this blog yesterday.
That's because the people at MyBlogLog turned on "comment/profile integration" on my blog yesterday morning. The coolest thing about this is that I didn't have to do a thing. They just flipped a switch somewhere and my comments are now integrated with my community.
If you have the MyBlogLog community on your blog, social network, and/or web site or service, then you can get comment/profile integration too. It's working in TypePad as of yesterday and it will be working in Wordpress and Moveable Type sometime this week. All you have to do to join the private beta is send an email to Eric (eric at mybloglog.com).
I am really excited about this for a bunch of reasons. First and foremost, I recognize the names of frequent commenters, but now I'll have a face or avatar or icon to add to the mix. That makes my life a lot easier and hopefully makes it better for the people who read and contribute comments to my blog. Blogger comments have worked this way for a long time and now we have a cross platform solution that will support all the major content management solutions over time.
If you think someone has written a particularly interesting comment (or a particularly annoying one), you can click on their icon and be taken to their MyBlogLog profile. You can see where they blog, what other MyBlogLog communities they belong to, etc.
But mostly I am excited about the possibilities of where this can go. Ever since I put MyBlogLog community on my blog, I've been thinking about the possibilities that result from combining community and social media/blogging. To date MyBlogLog has mostly been about promise because there hasn't been much to do inside the community. Now with comment integration, we are seeing the first move. I suspect they've got a bunch more up their sleeves.
So now when you are reading the comments and you see a little box that says "Add Photo" next you your name, click on that box and join my community. I'll appreciate it and I suspect the rest of my readers will too.
August 23, 2006 in Bling, Venture Capital and Technology | Permalink
Comments
This is a very cool feature for them to add - it will go a long way to strengthening community that develops around social media/blogs.
I've been thinking about community a lot lately and like the services that are going to help nurture, grow and strengthen community around an individuals online presence. MBL is starting to implement features that definitely do this, which is nice to see.
One thing that I don't like about MBL however is the email that informs me that I've been automatically adding to X,Y, and Z community because I visit the site regularly. I'm not sure I want to join a community just b/c I visit a site X number of times (and I know I don't want an email informing me that I've now joined this community)
Posted by: Fraser | Aug 23, 2006 8:09:11 AM
The new feature is a very helpful one.
I guees regular visitors will surely benifit from this feature.
Thank you for informing me about this !
Posted by: Maria making pictures | Aug 23, 2006 8:36:52 AM
Fraser --
Auto-joining the community is user-configurable. We recognize that some readers prefer a complete hands-on approach so you can turn this feature off in your profile page. If you're thinking that the idea is cool, but it's joining you too quickly, then you can set the threshhold for joining to a higher number. You an also turn the alerts off.
I hope this makes MyBlogLog more enjoyable for you.
Posted by: Eric Marcoullier | Aug 23, 2006 8:49:56 AM
Eric! Thanks for the heads-up. Again, your quick response is appreciated.
This service, or one like it, will help communities transition to decrentralized social networks while maintaining the value that the centralized network added.
Posted by: Fraser | Aug 23, 2006 9:02:25 AM
Great addition to mybloglog. Can't wait for the Wordpress version. Let's see if my mugshot shows up...
Posted by: Steve James | Aug 23, 2006 9:08:16 AM
I like how MyBlogLog has taken some pieces of other services. They have analytics, social networking and now comment-related service.
Me Likey.
Posted by: Rick | Aug 23, 2006 9:38:08 AM
MBL is a very cool service w/ a clear value prop, and I can see these guys building something to a relatively modest exit without needing much funding.
But there's 2 factors that circumvent its use:
1. I do most of my blog reading thru feedreaders.
2. I use Adblock (the most beautiful Firefox plugin ever) to block most scripts, including ads and even google analytics.
Yes, both factors are "opt out" types of behavior, and I chose them. I also bet that if enough people did that, companies (Google included) would innovate around such considerations.
Posted by: Ken Berger | Aug 23, 2006 9:42:06 AM
This is a brilliant idea because it takes away one of the few advantages Blogger has over other blogging systems. Now I have one less reason to remain at Blogger.
Posted by: T | Aug 23, 2006 10:01:10 AM
Nice feature! I think I will turn it on as well. It is much easier to visualize an avatar or icon with a person to match previous discussion, tone, and overall connection.
Posted by: Eric | Aug 23, 2006 10:20:18 AM
I wonder if Blogger is playing along. We'll see in a moment, won't we?
Posted by: jackson | Aug 23, 2006 11:28:15 AM
Ummm, guess not. Typekey wants me to use a different name - seems some imposter is already using 'Jackson'. Oh well, integrity supercedes playing along. I guess you'll all have to click the link to see me.
Posted by: jackson | Aug 23, 2006 11:32:03 AM
MBL is very cool. Building community around blog readership is great in itself. Better will be if they can build from that to offer a collaborative filtering blog search tools "your contacts also read XYZ blog" and Amazon style "people who read the same blogs as you also read ABC".
Posted by: Nic Brisbourne | Aug 23, 2006 11:53:27 AM
Much like other services where the implicit data generated by its use is where the company's business really is (vs. what users experience and think is cool), MBL sems to provide a great way to begin collecting hard to get at analytics about blog use. Now THAT'S the money play! By delivering on so many desirable user capabilities that have been demanded of the blogosphere for a long time (but had been available in social networks), they're on their way to more quickly converging the blogosphere and social networks than any of the incumbent blogging app providers or the social network services. Pretty cool. Pincus articulated this idea 2 yrs ago and I know was frustrated by the obstacles he faced in getting others to understand the importance and value of this sort of service.
Posted by: P-Air | Aug 23, 2006 1:37:23 PM
Ken --
1) By the time RSS reaches the comparatively tech-lite chewy center of the internet, it will support javascript and be built directly into the browser. And then we're all good.
2) You got us there, but then again, you added your picture at some point, yeah? So everyone else's picture might not show up on your page, but your picture shows up on everyone else's. That's good enough for now.
Posted by: Eric Marcoullier | Aug 23, 2006 2:09:24 PM
Fred, I think we owe you a big thank-you for keeping up with, and publicizing, new capabilities in blogging technology.
Posted by: D. C. Toedt | Aug 23, 2006 5:45:34 PM
I am with jackson, the name I wanted was taken so I came up someone very un-creative.
Posted by: Mo | Aug 23, 2006 6:16:56 PM
Ok, can't think and type.
Here we go:
I am with jackson, the name I wanted was too short but now it shows up as what I wanted. On my profile my name is Mozcomment but it won't let me register Mo. Put me under the confused column.
Posted by: Mo | Aug 23, 2006 6:19:05 PM
testing to see if the system can be spoofed. i don't quite get how this works.
Posted by: Mo | Aug 23, 2006 7:51:45 PM
Hey,
I just posted the above comment pretending to be "Mo." I was afraid that was going to work. I would recommend MyBlogLog provide each user a unique URL that only he/she knows. This can be used for authentication purposes.
If they can fix this issue, I think it is an awesome service.
Posted by: Ari Mir | Aug 23, 2006 7:53:33 PM
testing testing one two three
Posted by: simon | Aug 24, 2006 12:54:13 AM
OK. I think this is exactly what I've been wanting. If it could become ubiquitous and integrate w/ Wordpress/ del.icio.us/flickr/etc, I'd have a seemless online identity for "social network" stuff -- neato.
Because, quite frankly, signing into stuff over and over again sucks.
Posted by: scott | Aug 24, 2006 2:03:32 AM
I love the picture with the comment element! That's where all of this is going, the humanizing of the internet. On some level, technology has turned a great number of us into de facto shut-ins. Yeh, we see our kids and spouses at the appropriate meal times contingent on scheduling of meetings or sporting events or dance recitals, whathaveyou, but we don't come in contact, real human contact, with strangers anymore. It is safe. It makes a great deal of sense in terms of expediency, but our circle of intimates remains fixed. Our means of expanding that circle are limited as well. At an art opening, we may meet new people, and yes, they might share our interest in art, but does the circle really expand. In this forum, anyone, from various sets of interests can enter into your life. Still safe. Still hermetically sealed, but it's a crap shoot who you come into contact with and that makes it feel that much more human and rich.
Posted by: Miles Shapiro | Aug 24, 2006 7:47:59 AM
Eric,
Strong product that will no doubt improve rapidly. I suggest you communicate what's great about mybloglog a bit more clearly on the site. I find the two boxes at the bottom on the home page a little weak. My $0.02.
Posted by: PG | Aug 24, 2006 8:20:40 AM
Um..I didn't make that last post on Aug 23, 2006 7:51:45 PM. Consider the system spoofed.
Posted by: Mo | Aug 24, 2006 10:01:28 AM
Testing..
-Posted by Mo
Posted by: Eric Marcoullier | Aug 24, 2006 10:04:21 AM
Spoofing it is certainly an issue, but I don't know that we will be taking it on in an immediate release.
The challenge is that all of the blog providers and social networks want to be walled gardens. Do you really think MySpace disabled outbound clicks in Flash apps because of security? They did it to further enforce a very Web 1.0 roach-motel style of web services. Readers check in and they don't chck out.
Six Apart was very happy to make TypeKey authentication an open standard, but neither Blogger, AOL nor MS will consider integrating it because it's the first step in bridging their systems. Services like MyBlogLog are forced to work around them in some pretty devious ways, but without direct integration in tandem with the service providers, true user authentication is going to be rough. But we're thinking about it.
Plus, you can spoof just as easily on a comment thread without MyBlogLog -- you just say you're somone else. Mo could have spoofed me last week by saying he was Eric Marcoullier. It's interesting though that there seems to be more *weight* to the spoof when a picture is beside it. That warrants some more thought too.
Posted by: Eric Marcoullier | Aug 24, 2006 12:08:36 PM
PG -- the home page of MyBlogLog is in desperate need of a revamp. Luckily, we're starting that process shortly. It's that classic "more features vs better articulation" battle. That is a classic battle, yes?
Posted by: Eric Marcoullier | Aug 24, 2006 12:11:19 PM
One last important thing -- we *do* leverage Typekey's validation service on blogs that have integrated it.
The problem is that even Typekey, which is supposed to be a first step at user authentication, doesn't work. I just posted at myself on Jeff Clavier's blog (http://blog.softtechvc.com/2006/08/aol_userplane_a.html#comments) on two different computers, once logged in using Typekey and once without. The blog doesn't care either way.
Posted by: EricMarcoullier | Aug 24, 2006 12:29:50 PM
