Several months ago, I switched to a new blog commenting system called LiveFyre. It didn’t go over so well with readers. The main concern revolved around being required to create an account with LiveFyre, and with that came a few smaller issues, such as sign-in problems and difficulty figuring out how/why to create an account.
Shortly after installing LiveFyre, I removed it, even though I happened to really like the system personally. I was concerned with the hassle it seemed to be causing people who were dedicated readers here at bizchickblogs. However, I did state that I was going to bring it back at some point.
Last week at Blogworld, I had the chance to talk at length with Jordan Kretchmer, founder of LiveFyre, about the system and the improvements they have made over the past few months. LiveFyre had literally just been released when we installed it here (which surprises me; I can hardly be considered an early adopter when it comes to technology). Naturally, there were kinks to work out. They’ve been worked out now.
The time has come to switch back to LiveFyre, and this time I want to explain clearly why we are switching. This will likely be a permanent change here but I believe that you will come to love it. I think LiveFyre is headed in the right direction.
Please note, I am not encouraging you to switch to LiveFyre. I am explaining why I am doing so here.
The Main Factors in the Switch: Quality and Discussion
bizchickblogs is getting older, getting different, and while the readership in terms of traffic numbers is higher than ever, the quality of conversation is sliding. Not what you see, but what you don’t see.
- You don’t see all of the garbage comments that don’t get approved. I’m not talking about spambots. Just crappy comments for back links.
- You don’t see all of the conversation that could be happening but isn’t, and neither do I.
Although the poor quality comments are annoying enough at times to turn off commenting altogether, it’s the second point that’s most important to me. I want everyone to use the comments section, not just bloggers, and not just SEO-types looking for links. Commenting is discussion. That should be the primary focus, right?
One-time, drive-by commenting is not conversation. It doesn’t build relationships or really do all that much for us as bloggers, either. The whole point of LiveFyre is to facilitate a dialog between people. It’s quite unique in that way.
If you want to see an example of LiveFyre at work, check out Spinsucks.com, TheNextWeb.com, or Plagiarismtoday.com. Jordan told me that at first, he did have to convince blog owners to stick with it, because readers don’t like changes, especially changes in comment systems. But as you can see from those two blogs, LiveFyre truly is a great system for discussion and quality comments. Nothing more, nothing less.
Upsides and Downsides
Figure out what you want out of commenting. I know what that is.
I really like some of the things that the guy from whoishostingthis.com had to say about LiveFyre. There are some downsides. In his “Drawbacks of LiveFyre” section, Jonathan includes the sign-in requirement, moderation, and emphasis on real-time conversations as downsides (among a couple of other things). I’m with him on sign-in. It does suck to have to create an account or sign-in with Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. to leave a comment. That’s one thing that Disqus has over them, since Disqus does allow people to comment as guests.
However, even though it sucks, I consider the sign-in thing an upside. I don’t want bizchickblogs to be just like any other big blog. If you look at some of the larger sites, they are communities. People don’t mind signing in, because they consider themselves a part of a community. Some sites don’t even allow commenting by strangers – you literally have to audition to comment on them. I don’t want to take it that far, but ultimately bizchickblogs is headed in a different direction than a regular blog. We’re not close to there yet, but we’ll get there one change at a time.
Soon, we will be using the LiveFyre API to have a single sign-on. This means that you will be able to use LiveFyre to sign into bizchickblogs, so you won’t have to wrestle with two different accounts. Contributors, this is good news for you.
You should note that like Disqus, once you’re signed into LiveFyre, you can comment on any LiveFyre blog without having to sign in again. And, you don’t have to have a LiveFyre account. You can comment with your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, or OpenID accounts as well.
Thoughts on the future of blog commenting
Generally, I think you will start to see more and more bloggers switching from native commenting systems to external services like LiveFyre. A number of bloggers already use great services like Disqus. Switching commenting systems is a painful experience, especially for an established site (case in point: when Techcrunch switched to Facebook comments). There will be some kicking and screaming and some people may even leave.
The tough goodbye to CommentLuv
I LOVE CommentLuv, but I love discussion and quality comments more. LiveFyre doesn’t integrate with CommentLuv, so I had to choose between one or the other. There are some bloggers who will refuse to comment on blogs without CommentLuv. That’s unfortunate, and to that I just have to say, so be it. I used to strongly prefer CommentLuv-enabled blogs, too, and I believe that CommentLuv is a powerful resource for blog promotion. However, I am ultimately making a decision to improve comments, not to increase them.
I welcome your thoughts and comments on how the switch impacts CommentLuv, specifically. Also, your thoughts on Keyword Luv, something I have a love-hate relationship with.
With change comes the inevitable shift in readership
I want to encourage you who are regular contributors to stick it out during the change. This first half of 2011 (nearly over, hard to believe) was an incredible experiment in online publishing. I’ve learned a number of things about what drives traffic and what drives discussion and the two are not one in the same. For example, you don’t get to see the literally thousands of visitors we got from the post on LinkedIn, or how the silly post on pictures of Kate and Prince William’s wedding drive over 800 visits in just a few hours. I know now how to drive a ton of traffic. But traffic isn’t everything, it’s just one half of the goal.
The latter half of this year will be experiments in the marriage of traffic and discussion. Content is and will remain the most important part of this site. Without good content, there is no consistent readership anyway, so encouraging discussion would be a moot point. Starting in June, there will be an even stronger focus on content that entertains, encourages, and educates us.
With content taken care of, what’s left is the discussion part. I believe that LiveFyre is better than other systems at facilitating conversation. And, for a long time now, I’ve believed that the native WordPress comment system is inhibitive to readers who are not bloggers or website owners. I want everyone to feel like they have something to contribute, and to not be baffled by the ‘website’ field or various check boxes and things that make the comment section look too technical.
Final Point: Comment systems don’t drive comments. Content does.
At the end of the day, people will comment when they feel like commenting and not when they don’t. On sites that effectively squash trolls and selfish link seekers, you will notice hundreds of comments on some posts and hardly any on others. That’s the way it is.
Haven’t you ever been to a happy hour where some topics spark twenty minutes of dialog and others leave the table silent? I have. That’s the nature of discussion. Some things are worth talking about and others aren’t.
Certain systems inhibit comments and make it difficult to leave them and find out when others have left them. Others make it easier. I think LiveFyre makes it easier.
Contributors, you already enjoy great comments on your posts. I think you will come to find that LiveFyre will only enhance the conversation that is currently happening on your posts.
I welcome your thoughts and opinions! Thanks for reading and listening.
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Great information as usual, livefyre is really amazing and awesome! Commentluv is good but I prefer to have livefyre because it is better to use. Thanks Tia for posting it, I learn a lot!
@Dragon Blogger@Tia Peterson Hey there, all great feedback in these comments, and things that we will be fixing. We’re all about conversation, not comments for the sack of getting links which you all understand well
Here’s a few notes on things we’re working on:
- better syncing to the WP database, so when you make changes in the Livefyre admin, it will sync the state back to your database
- not sending emails for comments imported from twitter (If you have SocialSync turned off the other social features do still work)
- adding moderation rules when people post links so you can moderate differently.
Thanks for helping make our product better!
@Tia Peterson Good point, it does still allow you to share to those networks and draw people in potentially to join the conversation with that off right?
@Tia Peterson@jennalanger@livefyre Interesting I will keep my eye on that, most of my spammers came from the same IP’s and used many different SEO keywords/URL’s for the same username, Livefyre only attaching 1 URL to username for backlink negates much of what they were attempting to do. Also the Impermium is pretty good at catching SPAM for me, but some still make it through. I really wish you had the ability to auto force comments to moderation if someone put an HTTP url in the comment, the auto approve of comments when spammers put URL’s in them bugs me.
@Dragon Blogger Oh one other thing – I don’t use the feature to pull conversations from Twitter & Facebook, because I did that on my noshmarketing.com blog one time, and got a lot of flack from a commenter who said she was so annoyed at all of the notifications. I didn’t realize it, but LiveFyre sends (or did send) commenters a notification every single time the thing was updated with Twitter and Facebook updates. You can imagine how irritating that would get. Since I have LiveFyre notifications turned to “off” for everything, I didn’t notice. When you start getting 20 and 30 retweets on a post, plus all of the follow up updates that LiveFyre counts as conversation, you start getting into crazy amounts of notifications. I don’t know if they’ve changed that but I decided against it for bizchickblogs especially since some people are still not happy with the switch.
@Dragon Blogger Hey Justin – That’s really interesting, and that’s one of the reasons why I personally was okay with the drop in comments. Readers who are not bloggers aren’t affected as much by the change; every major journal-type website has its own commenting system and they are all totally different.
Not every LiveFyre site has seen massive drops in comments. Take a look at wpbeginner.com. I was shocked to see their comment counts actually appear to increase (just my observation). So it really depends a lot on the website itself and the content, etc.
I would say my SPAM moderation is a little higher than it should be. It dropped instantly but slowly crept up a little. I think human spammers are figuring their way around it.
Question: Do you find yourself having to moderate twice, once in LiveFyre and once in your WP admin? I do. It could be just me. @jennalanger @livefyre
I am glad I recently found this article as I started suffering testers remorse as many bloggers who commented frequently abandoned commenting on my site since testing Livefyre. I can’t say my change is permanent but I did notice a 98% drop in SPAM moderation and I still have some commenters who had no problem with the change. My biggest drop in commenters is other Wordpress bloggers, the people (readers) who find my site and don’t have their own blogs but happen to find it via Google…etc seems around the same level of commenting.
I do like the way it reads in Twitter replies, Facebook replies into the commenting system as well.
@GrowMap Hi Gail – Thanks for your comment. It wasn’t an easy decision. It totally changed the circle of bloggers and readers that were commenting here. Now, the circle is smaller, but it’s more focused on women and specifically women in a business of some capacity. I’m certain that much of that had to do with CommentLuv and other things like Keyword Luv and Top Commentator. If bizchickblogs were still mainly a blog about blogging or social media, I’d be all for keeping all of those things.
It is so sad when favorite blogs leave CommentLuv because I miss it so much in blogs that don’t have it that I don’t frequent or share them nearly as much. Without it I don’t know what any of the other commentator’s interests are or whether I would want to read their blogs.
@Thoriq Hi Thoriq, we will be adding the ability to pick which name shows up for you in the comments. For now, if you click on your avatar you will see your full name and all of your profile info. Let me know if you have any other questions!
It has nifty features that our current comments system (Disqus) can’t provide, and features that we think will enhance the commenting experience greatly.
@jennalanger I’ve researching comment system for 3 days now and I’m sold to Livefyre, because it’s stylish design compare to disqus or intense debate, more over it’s quick easy to use, I only need less than 2 minutes to make it works.
But, I still have a Question… how do I use my real name when commenting instead of username ? . I prefer using my real name.
thanks in advance jenna
@Tia Peterson @FranciscoRosales @jkretch Hi Francisco! Switching from Disqus is super simple. Just deactivate Disqus, and then search for “Livefyre” in the plugin section of your WP Admin. Once you activate you will log in to Livefyre and we will start importing all of your comments from WordPress. We also write all new comments back to the WordPress database so you still have all of your data. If you have any other questions you can email us at support at livefyre dot com. Thanks!
@bodynsoil You’re welcome! I would definitely take your time and also try to find some other LiveFyre blogs to comment on and make sure you really like the user experience.
@FranciscoRosales Hey Francisco! I didn’t transfer from Disqus so I can’t speak to it. You could check with @jkretch or @jennalanger to see if they know what the transition was like!
Livefyre has grown on me, when I first read your post I wasn’t sure if I would like a comment system you had to log into. The ease of use became clear, however, once I used your new system the first time. Sign-ins can be done rather easily with an existing Facebook, Twitter, Google, Linkedin or OpenId account. Now that I have seen LiveFyre in action, I have to agree with you on why you chose this system and can certainly see its benefits.The whole process with LiveFyre has been very positive so far, I am now looking into using the system myself. Thank you.
Hey @Tia Peterson , great post. I’ve been thinking about switching too…
One question: did you switch from Disqus? if so, how was the transition?
Thank you!
After reading all the feedback on Intense Debate I don’t think I will use the program. I am looking for something a little “sexier” for a commenting system but nothing that requires another log-in. Getting comments is hard enough, for me anyhow, without putting another hurdle in the way. @jennalanger @Tia Peterson @Gera @bodynsoil
@m4bmarketing Hi Susan – You can ‘delete’ people who are automatically included in the reply by backspacing over their username. Like on this one, I backspaced over everyone but you. I’m thinking of doing a LiveFyre Q&A post.
@Brankica Exactly. That’s how I feel (logging in w/FB is easier and less intimidating to people).
And I’m actively trying to attract all sorts of readers and not just bloggers.
@Brankica Hey Brankica – I would give it a couple of weeks first and really decide. You said you’re just using the native Wordpress, right? I got your email re: Disqus vs LiveFyre and I don’t think I got a chance to reply yet. I do use Disqus on my other blog, so it’s not that I feel LiveFyre is better. Only different. I would wait because changing commenting systems makes readers really mad. lol You have to be ready for it.
I do have to say that, about one day after I made the comment above, I am about to transfer my blog to Livefyre too
@Tia Peterson @MARLdblE @m4bmarketing @jennalanger @LewisHowes What I also forgot to say (reminded me when I read DiTesco’s comment) is that for bloggers whose readers are mostly bloggers, Livefyre should not be a problem really, cause it is a system most bloggers have already registered with, and if not, they for sure have Twitter of FB
@Tia Peterson @MARLdblE @m4bmarketing @jennalanger @LewisHowes This should be a deal breaker. The default system is kinda intimidating to people because they need to leave their address. Logging into Livefyre with Facebook is easy, today everyone has FB and people are already used to logging in with it to different stuff, so why not here.
@Ileane Hi Ileane – You’re right. The “profiles” are weird. I don’t understand them – and yes both Disqus & IntenseDebate do that, too. It’s not very interesting.
Perhaps they should just have your picture, a link to your site (or FB or Twitter, whatever) and that’s it.
Thanks for your comments! I am interested in seeing what a commentluv-like feature would look like here, too!
Hi Tia, I first saw Livefyre on Danny Brown’s blog (he later removed it) and on Joe Hackman’s blog. I’m a die-hard CommentLuv fan myself but Livefyre is holds the #2 spot on my list.Thanks for sharing all of your reasoning with us and I’m glad you found a commenting system you feel comfortable with.
I have one question, you mentioned that once someone comments with Livefyre they won’t need to log in again but I don’t find that to be the case and I’m using Twitter.
I can’t wait to see what the Livefyre version of CommentLuv will look like. That might be pretty awesome! Keep me posted.
The bottom line for me as a blogger and social media lover is to have some way that people can see the content that I’m creating Whether they get there through a link to a blog post, Twitter or Facebook (I’m not a LinkedIn user but if I were you could add it the list) I’m happy. But I don’t like the idea of following someone’s comments on another website. I just took a look at my profile on the Livefyre site and although it’s not bad – I also find it to be useless because it’s all taken out of context and it doesn’t convey the message that I want others to see. I find the same thing with Disqus and Intense Debate – reading through nothing buy a list of my comments from other blogs leaves me feeling very “disconnected” or maybe “fragmented” is a better word.
Well that’s one good thing about this discussion (and more importantly – this post) I never knew how I really felt about this issue until I started writing this response.
Touché my friend!
Tia,
I admit, Livefrye takes some getting used to. I am willing to give it another try and see how it goes. I’m glad you got to share your thoughts with the founder and get feedback!
Hi, Tia! I just found your blog through @m4bmarketing ‘s post this morning, and I’m really enjoying what I’m finding. I’ve recently gotten more involved in networking, commenting on other blogs, and participating in community-building.
Your analysis of LiveFyre’s pros and cons as well as your personal/business reasons for choosing to install it is excellent. I do miss CommentLuv not because of any backlink juice which, as you said, is minimal, but because I liked tracing back thoughtful commenters to their own work.However, I was convinced enough by your support for LiveFyre that I’ve set up an account for myself.
“Drive by” commenting is definitely a concern. People drop a brief comment into new blogs just to get the “good guys,” people who are genuinely interested in building communities, to follow them back and comment on the blogs. That’s not a real community. Like you say – comment systems don’t drive comments: content does. Also, Twitter, Facebook, Stumbled Upon, and Google don’t buy your products or services; real members of a community do.
Thanks for the great post. Lots to think about!
Jana
@jigsawverbiage Thanks, Monica. That makes a lot of sense. I haven’t tried logging in via FB or Twitter; I should, just so I can understand the user experience!
I’ll reply to your other comment here, too, so I don’t keep hijacking the Recent Comments section.
I can’t be bothered with drive-by commenting, either. Every now and then I will want to visit a new blog, but it’s not the same as when people actively try and comment on thousands of unique URLs to get links.
Hopefully, LiveFyre will reduce or even eliminate the comment spam. It would be a huge blessing if that were the case!
Thanks for taking the time to comment on this. I really appreciate it!
oh and as for signing in, I tried FB first and it asked for my permission but the accept box never showed up. Probably just me and my temperamental laptop. Twitter was a breeze though so I guess the person this could be more of a pain to is the once not already socially connected in some other way.
Well, after all that I had to comment just to see what would happen! I am always trying to make things easier for the people who visit my business or personal blog as well as my business website, so I appreciate your talking about a product that keeps that in mind. You’re right. If a person wants to comment, they will do whatever necessary to do so. As long as I don’t get an error I’m generally ok with it. What’s funny to me is you mentioning the drive-by commenting. Businesses and/or bloggers are told so much that commenting is good for the backlinks so they try to do that. I personally never wanted to do it because I’m just unwilling to go looking that hard for places I can comment! And I include the daily perusing of Google Alerts because even though it comes to my inbox, it’s still time to look at each one and follow the lead. I’d rather find blogs that resonate with me and check in on them from time to time. But they do add up. And just how much of that can a person do and still have a life? It’s weird to say, I know, but it’s like having too many friends. After a certain age it’s just too much work! If I could visit EVERYONE and comment as a way to show my support, I’d get nothing done! So you are looking for real conversation and that’s how I think it should be. I look forward to finding out later how it’s working out for you.
@Tia Peterson @Gera @bodynsoil Comment editing is on our roadmap – I’ll make sure to add 2 more votes for adding it!
@Gera @bodynsoil Good point, Gera. Thanks for pointing that out.
@Elge Premeau, Internet Marketing Consultant Yes, except that I believe that is only the case when you sign in with LiveFyre. If you do it through the other options like FB or Twitter, I don’t think it works that way. Language is in order, though. I definitely want people to know how it works!
@Gera LOL Glad you’re having fun with the testing. Native Wordpress is solid but just lacks the community-power. With plugins, it’s possible but without a variety of plugins it’s not possible to create the kind of community that something like LiveFyre can create.
We will see, in the coming month, whether the change was good or not!
@jennalanger That’s actually why I really like LiveFyre. People can comment with their FB credentials and won’t need to worry about giving me access to their private details!
@Tia Peterson @bodynsoil @jkretch
I just read the FAQ and it’s not possible to edit comments. OK
@jennalanger @Tia Peterson That will certainly be a good addition. looking forward to it.
@Tia Peterson @bodynsoil
After deleting 3553 duplicated comments (by hand) from Intense Debate I don’t recommend it. And as Tia said, I had 2 areas to comment – very original coming from them, love comments LOL!
Really with all the problems with ID, I made the decision to move to WP.
In Disqus you can edit your comments. With LiveFyre is it possible to edit them after press post? I don’t see any chance. @jkretch I like these tags
Hi Tia,
First time I comment with LiveFyre. I took an account with them
Speaking about external systems, you know my forgettable experience with Intense Debate I don’t want a similar again
Today I prefer native system, but I understand about crappy comments – I receive many them often just for links.
Is it a good idea to transfer all your comments to Facebook? Do you remember Myspace not long ago? I don’t think so. Technology evolves.
“Comment systems don’t drive comments. Content does.” Totally! Without quality content all the theme is useless.
LiveFyre is different and I’m seeing how it works. Like those tags.
Have a great week!
Gera
@Tia Peterson Testing the tags
@MARLdblE @Tia Peterson @jennalanger @LewisHowes
As I am new to this couldn’t work out how to just reply to Marlee. You are right if you want to be a part of a community you do bite the bullet. On another completely different note I liked your post about BlogWorld and your description of each of the people you mentioned.
@Elge Premeau, Internet Marketing Consultant I had the same experience the first time I signed up and I was literally angered by it! LOL. There is a place in your profile and on the post where you can stop them. It would be nice if there were a warning though.
@Tia Peterson Ahhh. Okay. Thanks for letting me know. If possible, I’d recommend looking into a way to tell folks that’s how you do it since the usual process is to opt in for future comments from where you comment in the blog post.
@SmartIncomeBlog Ah, good to know. I’ll definitely look into that further, thanks.
@Tia Peterson @MARLdblE @m4bmarketing @LewisHowes One thing I am very aware of is the barrier to entry for leaving a comment. We’re open to suggestions on how to make it as easy as possible, and we’ll continue to iterate on the sign-in and leaving a comment process. Our goal is to have anyone interested feel comfortable to leave a comment and to continue in the conversation. Almost all comment systems require an email address in order to post because it helps with spam prevention. We will never share the email address with anyone, and can perhaps work on messaging to make users feel more at ease leaving a comment. Feedback is always welcome from bloggers and non-bloggers alike.
@jennalanger Sorry, Jenna. I was referring to replying through the WP Android app.
@SmartIncomeBlog Hey Kevin, you should be able to respond to comments from your Droid. Can you email support at livefyre dot com with details and we can see where the issue is? We’re working on reply by email as well so it won’t be an issue in the future.
@MARLdblE @m4bmarketing @jennalanger @LewisHowes Yes I will definitely share the long-term feedback. When I look at sites like HuffPo and other sites that are frequented by the more average joes – people without sites, I feel like the commenting systems there are much more like livefyre and disques/intense debate than they are of the native wordpress system.
That is actually one of the main drivers for the switch; I have suspicions, given the popular content here, that the primary readership is not bloggers/website people. I know that people are iffy about leaving their email addresses. On the non-techy content that will come up in the future, I’m going to purposefully be on the lookout for comments from readers who are not blogger-types and see if they pop up more in the discussions!
@DiTesco @Tia Peterson We’ll have to work on that double-like feature
We’re also working on our own version of commentluv as many of our bloggers have asked for it. We’ll keep you posted when that comes out, I think you’ll be happy with it!
@Elge Premeau, Internet Marketing Consultant Good that you brought this up!! The system defaults to sending you updates in real-time. However, you can click on your name and go to your profile, and under Settings you can change how often you are notified.
@ElizaFayle Very interesting!
Gotta say, I’m not nuts about the flurry of emails that have landed in my inbox today from commenting on this post. I’m sure it’s to help the conversation but it makes me a bit leery to leave a comment in the future. I realize it’s kind of an oxymoron but I could see myself thinking “Hmm. Am I sure I want to leave a comment?This post could get a lot of feedback.”
(Maybe I missed the option to opt out of notification of future comments?)
@m4bmarketing so glad you signed in to join in on the fun. I share in your sentiments completely, but I’ve found that if you’re really part of a community (like you are here) you eventually bite the bullet and join in.
@Tia Peterson I completely see how your reasoning fits in here. After speaking with @jennalanger a #bweny I was very impressed with what she shared with me. I had always had an aversion to livefyre, but first started using the system ages ago because I’d occasionally comment on @LewisHowes blog who was an early adopter.
I’ll be interested to see how many more non-bloggers you have engaging using this system. Personally, I suspect it would be more of a hindrance than less so. I’ll look forward to your results in that area. I also have left blogs because of the load delay. This is especially true for blogs with lots of comments. They seem to take ages to load.
As for my own blog, I enjoy being able to offer my readers a place to show case their work and give back to their conversations. Many connections I’ve made with others have been due to catching my eye via a comment luv link. And as far as I’ve read, most SEOs make it pretty clear that link juice via comment love is minimal at best.
I also like the fact that the wp default commenting system is not so intimidating for the average computer user. I’ve had very, very novice pc users comment on my site with relative easy (they aren’t blogger’s either).
What I find most intriguing about livefyre however is it’s social network integration. I believe that it’s notification system and reach are going to prove very, very useful to growing a blog community.
I’m not ready for livefyre yet, but I’ve got my eye on the system. Looking forward to your long-term feedback!
@Tia Peterson @jennalanger Anything that sparks discussion and prioritizes quality over quantity is and always has been OK in my books. I was so eager to get my comment in that I totally forgot to give you my two cents about commentluv and keywordluv. Commentluv is a very good service and I believe that with the future upcoming changes that Andy is making, it will even be better and both systems are different. As for KWL, one small comment, I don’t use it
@Tia Peterson With the way your are progressing this blog Tia I have a feeling your big dreams will come through.
@DiTesco If I could double-like your comment, I would. So glad you are okay with this change. That makes me happy! (cc @jennalanger )
@m4bmarketing Woo! lol I am happy about that, Susan.
Regarding Eliza’s comment below, perhaps she’s right. Perhaps blogs are not where the comments are at any longer. But if you look at HuffPo and New York Times and some of the other big news sites all over the world, we can see that commenting still exists.
I have very big dreams for bizchickblogs. I want the comments to continue. I want the readership to be so loyal that they throw tomatoes at me when I make a change! lol
That would be incredible!
Hi Tia. believe it or not but this is the first time I ever leave a comment via livefyre, and yes, I have just registered for an account right here, and without leaving. This is probably the most simple registration process I have done and it is really very cool. I totally understand why you are using this system and perhaps it might just set the “mark” for other people to follow. The tagging “feature” is awesome.
Hi Tia,
I have seen a number of blog using livefyre and understand where you are coming from regarding discussions. I think there are no one size fits all approach and I like the way you described your reasoning which makes perfect sense from a business point of view. Hey I even signed up so I could comment here and I usually dislike having to go through the process.
I have been blogging for over three years now. In that time, my comments have dropped off dramatically. However, my readership continues to grow in leaps and bounds. And by looking at Google Analytics I have loyal repeat readers. My conclusion, therefore, is that comments on blogs are not really where it is at.
Interestingly, as the comments on my blog have dropped off, the interaction on Facebook exploded. Again, analyzing Google Analytics, Facebook is the number two referral site to my blog after Google searches. I think people who comment (and this only a small percentage of our readership; most people prefer to just read) have simply switched their commenting forum of choice from the blogs to Facebook.
For me, therefore, I do not even worry about the commenting application for my blog. I just know there is a huge party and gab session going on in Facebook.
Awesome post, Tia.
I just added Livefyre over the weekend and I really like it. The downside I’ve found is that I can’t respond to comments on my Droid. I can get the email from Livefyre that I have one to respond to, but if I’m not at a computer, I have to wait until I am near one.
The default WP commenting system is really good, but I definitely wanted to try something different. I didn’t really like IntenseDebate, but Disqus was pretty good. I definitely recommend bloggers who are just starting out to try LiveFyre before your audience starts to pick up.
Hey Tia, I personally don’t think I will ever transfer from WP default but I do understand why you did. I wrote a post about why I don’t like these systems recently and my main thing is that people hate registering for new stuff just to comment. Especially those that are not bloggers but just regular folks that ran into a post on Google. I do understand the switch as a way to avoid the link chasers and that is a great idea. I have been tempted to remove Comment Luv of my blog many times and it is a thing I might do one day. Unfortunately but hey, I would rather have less comments if those are made only for links.
Hi Tia,
It is fine with me. I can adjust to anything. You must do what you feel is best for Biz Chick. The most important thing that you said and I will always remember it is that, “Comment systems don’t drive comments. Content does.” True!!
I have been having problems with my comments (people commenting only for back links, etc) and have been trying to figure out what to do. These days I am more concerned with the discussions.
It also seems for me that those who use to comment on my blog, don’t anymore. I think that some people have a set goal for the number of comments they get out so they can get their back links and then they bail on you. I want real and true people who really support my content. Not pretenders!
With that being said, I totally understand your decision and Livefyre does have some great features. At the end of the day, it is about the content and real discussion that we get on our content and doing what works best for Biz Chick Blogs.
Evelyn
@bodynsoil My issue specifically was around moderation and duplicate comments. For some reason, there were some serious duplicate comment issues. And I had trouble moderating comments – so spam control was an issue (but only briefly; I kept it installed only for about four days). Now, I have to say that the support was really, really good. They always got back to me, they just couldn’t fix the issues.
On my friend Gera’s blog – Sweetsfoods – the comment form kept displaying twice. So you would have two forms on the screen. Apparently that was never resolved either, so he gave it up.
@jennalanger Thanks! I would so appreciate that. In the meantime I’ll chalk it up to one more reason to get a Droid.
It could have been bizchickblogs’ mobile formatting that was messed up, too.
@Tia Peterson Thanks for giving me the heads up on Intense Debate, I hadn’t heard much about it and was only giving it a try. I certainly would take your input very seriously on that topic since you have tried it already and would love to know what happened
@Tia Peterson @bodynsoil
@Tia Peterson Hey Tia, first off, we’re happy to have you using Livefyre! When visiting from a mobile device we load a simplified version of the comment stream to fit the mobile phone. We work great on iPhones and Android devices, and I’ll do some more digging into what it takes to work properly for Blackberry.
@bodynsoil I would never go back to Intense Debate… ever! LOL Horrible experience with that system around this time last year. And I have known bloggers on both the blogspot and Wordpress platform that have had major technical issues with it.
I think that if you use it from the beginning on a blog that doesn’t get an enormous amount of comments, it should be fine. But my experience is that it cannot handle a lot of comments.
Thanks for the heads-up about the loading time issues. That is something to watch out for, definitely!
@jkretch jkretch bizchickblogs jennalanger jmatthicks Thanks! I guess this question then goes to the group: Does livefyre work with mobile phones? I know bizchickblogs isn’t properly formatted for mobile but I’m in the middle of having the apps developed. I did try to use my phone to leave a comment today and it didn’t work (I was using a Blackberry). Thanks again!
Tia I have been looking around at comment systems and read about “Intense Debate” (http://intensedebate.com/) and installed it on my blog. I did take it down for a few weeks while I learned the system and had to time to tweek it up just a bit. I noticed that Intense Debate does integrate CommentLuv as well as being sign in free. The other thing I noticed with Livefyre is the load time of various blogs you mentioned, I had to go off to read other posts while the Livefyre comment system was initializing. I hope you don’t experience that “lag time” in loading articles as well, that will certainly drive traffic the other way.
@Tia Peterson Huh! Ya never know what’s going to work!
Good luck with your class.
Hi everyone, jkretch from Livefyre here. Just wanted to drop in and welcome the whole bizchickblogs community. We’re building Livefyre for all of you to enjoy, so please let me know if you have questions or feedback. You can also reach out to jennalanger and jmatthicks with anything at all! See you around here
@Elge Premeau, Internet Marketing Consultant Hi Elge!
Great; I’m happy you’ll be referring to BCB in your class. I’m having a class in a couple of weeks here, too. It will be my first one!
I can certainly do a post on what I’ve learned about driving traffic through organic search.
It’s been fun learning. The LinkedIn post’s traffic came down to one crazy thing: the image. The post has received (as of right now) 4282 views since its publishing on March 26 and the vast majority (something like over 3,000) of the hits were for the logo. lol So it was completely unintentional and was a great lesson learned on the power of images for search. I had nothing to do with the success, really, other than image SEO but I certainly did not intend to get hits from the image.
Hi Tia,
Thanks for sharing your thought process on this. I was wondering how you came to this decision. Your post is very timely because I’m going to be teaching a live class at MercyCorps (http://www.mercycorpsnw.org) on how to build an online audience and was planning to use BCB as one of my examples. Most of the people taking the class don’t even know there are options when it comes to commenting systems so this post will be helpful. I’ll include it in my lit of resources.
Kind of off topic here…
I would LOVE to see another post on what you learned about driving traffic to your blog. And more of what you’ve learned about traffic versus quality content and conversation. I’m particularly interested in your process because you’re in the thick of it now. You’re not a ProBlogger or CopyBlogger (yet!) so I think you’re experience is more valuable for those just starting to work on this stuff.
I was also wondering how that LinkedIn post drove traffic. Did you post links to it in various LinkedIn Groups? Are people finding it from organic search?
Thanks!
@johnflower And you’re right that rewards stimulate comments, but I find that thought primarily concerns web addicts
and SEO types. I don’t think that’s a notion that people have outside of the website world. Think about the regular joes who comment on news sites just for the heck of it, you know?
@Tia Peterson Agreed. It’s better that someone places a URL in the comment.
Never did like Disqus, to be honest. Oh well, suppose livefyre will have to do it’s thang.
@johnflower No, Disqus filters quite a bit of spam, too. It never seemed to work well on bizchickblogs, even when the comment count was really low. I use Disqus on my other blog, though. I may eventually change that to LiveFyre, as that blog has yet to get going really (I spend all my time here hehe).
For the most part, the change was to have better commenting; it’s merely a huge plus that it *helps* whack out spam. I still don’t allow commenting without names and apparently, just as of like a second ago, I got a comment with a keyword as a name.
I’d almost rather have someone drop their link in the body of the comment over identifying themselves as an inanimate object.
This is a difficult one Tia. I think part of what stimulates conversation is reward (backlinks, for instance). However, I understand the drive-by commenting dilemma. I never thought I’d get sick of blog spam, but it got the best of me on one of my blogs too.
Is livefyre the only option?
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