- Spencer Kimball Last Update: March 31, 2017

A Blog Comment Hosting Service for Web Sites And Online Communities

Information on the Disqus site explains it as a a networked community platform, a web-wide community network, connecting millions of global users to your website or small blog. When you install the Disqus widget, registered users become part of the tracking system across different sites, even when they are not logged in, sites that use the Disqus commenting system. According to the Wikipedia article on Disqus, the widget acts in a similar fashion web bug which tracks a user’s activities(1).

The Disqus for blog comments hosting service is a much utilized service for websites and online communities, and Disqus brags the number of users is currently “more than 2.5 million and counting,” and there is a strong likelihood it is already on your favorite sites.

The advantages Disqus offers is the claim it will drive more participation and engagement with moderation tools to have some degree of control what is posted on your blog. Plus Disqus is a tool some use to find people with similar interests in order to build and grow and online community. Disqus offers the perk to “Follow other people who share your passions. Complete your profile so others can follow you back.”

Disqus offers several trade-offs for increased publicity and exposure. If you want privacy and do not want to have a publicly viewable profile which publishes your entire history of comments on Disqus network sites then this would not be a good tool for you to use. Also, information you provide, referred to by Disqus as “Non-Personally Identifiable Information” is actually not so private as the statement claims, as your profile page will show your entire history on Disqus sites, including posting, and will possibly be available to anyone who might search for it.

If you are comfortable with the fact Disqus does not give users control over who follows them nor have the ability to block unwanted followers, then it may be worth a look if you are willing to build a more integrated online presence. Besides social network integration some of the other features Disqus also offers include email notifications, mobile commenting and even analytics.

Kickoff Workshop with Disqus: Where Comments Meet Engagement by @digiday #2013 #brettmcdonald http://www.slideshare.net/digiday/845-disqus via @SlideShare

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