

Facebook is now competing with Disqus (et. al) - blader
http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=198
Facebook just launched a comments widget powered by Facebook Connect.
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look_lookatme
Early on Facebook made the decision that their users are real people with real
names and an identity that mirrors life beyond the internet. Whether they
realized it at that time or not, that was a great decision. I dunno if this
widget will be successful, but I've seen a number of people using connect on
disqus, gawker, et al. and it's actually kind of cool.

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unalone
I would love to think that they meant to do that all along, because that's the
true killer feature of Facebook. I like looking at my friends list and seeing
_names_ rather than _handles_.

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RK
Dear _unalone_ ,

It's nice on a social networking site to use your real name, but do people
really want to use them on random blogs and news sites (like this), etc.?

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unalone
I'd change my HN name to Rory if I had the choice: I'd rather have this tied
to my name.

I'd much rather have real names used on blogs and news sites, personally. It
feels cozier that way. When I comment on other blogs I always use my full
name.

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danielha
This is more analogous to Google Friend Connect's wall widget. 1) It's for
people using Facebook to leave wall comments; 2) This widget is a proof of
concept for their connect model.

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alecco
Facebook would own other site's comments. Not good.

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shib71
And what happens with users that want to comment but choose not to use
Facebook? (yes we exist)

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tokenadult
_And what happens with users that want to comment but choose not to use
Facebook?_

Something similar to what happens with users who want to comment but choose
not to use Disqus, methinks.

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danielha
Not exactly. You would comment normally without an account.

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unalone
On Disqus or on this Facebook model?

I'm sure that this Facebook system could be hacked to allow for unregistered
comments.

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danielha
1) Disqus

2) As plausible as hacking Disqus to allow Hacker News accounts.

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mileszs
As purely a user (and fan) of JS-Kit, I feel the need to mention that JS-Kit
comments have had Facebook Connect implemented for a while now. I use them for
my blog. It takes a couple seconds to get up and running (like Disqus, from
what I gather), and they are quite customizable.

<http://js-kit.com/comments/features.html>

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mattmaroon
This isn't competing with Disqus at all. Disqus totally replaces blog
commenting with a fairly trivial integration, and even syncs the comments back
to your database where you can retain ownership. What is a blogger going to
do, put this Facebook widget at the bottom of every post?

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sam_in_nyc
How about letting me comment on any URL with whatever social network I choose,
without forcing the site to integrate anything?

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releasedatez
I think the marketing value alone makes it worth implementing into a site.

update: I just took a brief look at the Facebook comment widget and I think
it's missing one feature. Facebook connect was meant for augmenting an
existing login system that a site has but it doesn't allow site's own login
user (when they are not logged in as Facebook user) to post comments as the
user. Not as configurable as I would like.

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unalone
Interesting to see how this plays out. Facebook is entering a market that
likes the existing products a lot. On the other hand, it's got a far tighter
layout - visually, Facebook comments appeal much more to me more than Disqus'
- and Facebook has the advantage of being a very large player.

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agotterer
I just spent the last 20 minutes trying to get the comments on my tumblr. So
far unsuccessful, I'm not even sure if its possible because of their security
settings. This will never reach main stream. Disqus takes 2 minutes to setup
and implement.

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unalone
"Never" seems a bit hasty. Facebook very rarely lets things stay non-
streamlined for long. They usually start rough and then iterate until they've
got something that' insanely polished.

~~~
agotterer
I don't think that's true. Remember beacon? But you are right "never" is a bit
hasty. They will have to fundamentally change the way this works for it to be
mainstream. The dev app interface alone is too confusing for your average
blogger.

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smokinn
Beacon was very quickly dumped after the massive backlash that was brought up
upon it. I have no doubt that had there not been the massive public resentment
they would have quickly iterated on it and made it into a very viable and
interesting product.

The parent's post is quite correct. They could've spend months polishing
beacon and it would've still been doomed to failure. Instead they put it out
there and when it didn't get the desired response they canned it. If the
comments system gets any traction whatsoever (and doesn't become a pr disaster
like beacon was) I fully expect them to very quickly polish the product and
make it very usable for people that aren't the early adopters.

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joepestro
Interesting how the cross-domain receiver file link is pointing to
<http://www.somethingtoputhere.com/xd_receiver.htm>

Why not upload this to facebook.com?

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tptacek
If LinkedIn did this, I'd be sorely tempted to switch our comments to it from
Disqus.

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mark_h
_Sites have seen as much as 40-50% more comments..._

I wonder if there was a noticeable change in tone or quality though, with the
decreased barrier to commenting.

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akkartik
How open are these APIs? Is it possible to build a single widget that accepts
either opensocial or friendconnect or fbconnect?

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tigerthink
Does the Comments Box allow for threaded comments? Unthreaded comments are a
pain imho.

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arjunb
hey alecco - site owners have full access to all the raw data via API or FQL,
btw.

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gojomo
When Obama's antitrust chief is done with Google, Facebook will be about ready
for scrutiny.

