Futuríveis
sábado, junho 14, 2008
The Rise of the Commentariat
n the past, a web user’s comments were trapped on the site or blog where they posted them. Now, services are allowing commenters to establish their own identity and reputation and to aggregate in one place the remarks they make all over the web.
A new wave of software and services, including coComment, Co.mments, Commentful, Disqus, Intense Debate, MyBlogLog, Seesmic and SezWho, enable users to create profiles, earn ratings for their comments and track their contributions and those of friends across the internet.
As an example, coComment allows users to install a “plug-in” in their browser that captures any comments they add to blogs and forums. On coComment’s site, members are presented with a list of all the conversations they are involved in and can track the progress of the discussions.
“The way services like ours and others are starting to frame it is that the blogger is only the initial person starting the discussion,” says Daniel Ha, co-founder of Disqus. “Everyone else is an equal participant and commenters can be seen as bloggers without a dedicated blog to express their thoughts.”
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He expects the best commenters to establish their own brands and be treated like pundits interviewed on television. Bloggers themselves are reaping some benefits from the new services, with readers more willing to add comments in the knowledge that their thoughts will be distributed more widely.
About 150,000 commenters use Disqus and it is integrated into 17,000 blogs. Many bloggers are dedicating more time to commenting themselves. The source is also referenced, says Mr Ha. “This takes down a lot of barriers. They are able to promote their site through our entire network.”
Other users of the networks include public relations firms that track discussions about their clients and marketing experts investigating consumer opinions and the most talked-about brands. “This is the first time that you can do a pure brand measure, finding out what is the unprompted awareness of a brand,” says Mr Colbourne.
For Mr Le Meur, online conversation is now shaping every consumer choice he makes. “I am not buying any product or service without asking my friends first and based on their comments I will select this or that brand,” he says.
“We are entering a new age where the conversation is permanent, people will use it for recommendations, and brands will have to learn how to monitor all those discussions.”
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