Facebook’s new comment system is a game-changer

Facebook is slowly starting to roll out its long-awaited new comment system. TechCrunch covered this in some detail by showing off the new system and even installing it on their site so people could use it at the bottom of the story.

It’s an interesting system that uses Facebook Connect to link content off of Facebook with discussion on Facebook. When someone comments on the TechCrunch post, it posts the comment on the bottom of the story. No biggie, we’ve seen that before. But the comment also then goes to the commenter’s Facebook wall, consisting of a post of the original link as well as the person’s comment underneath. Any further comments on that new wall post then go on Facebook as well as on the TechCrunch post.

Essentially it’s a way of having discussion in two places at once. Better, the comments on the original story are threaded, so it’s not confusing to follow along and any follow up comments on or off Facebook are made in context.

Here’s what it looks like on Facebook:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here’s what it looks like on the TechCrunch post:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So you can see that the systems kind of mirror each other in setup. What’s nice is that they automatically duplicate your posts in both spaces, which makes commenting an act of sharing at the same time. You do have a choice in the matter on both ends. When I was trying a test comment on TechCrunch it looked like this:

 

 

 

 

You can uncheck the box if you don’t want it to go to both, which is nice because it leaves the choice in the user’s hand even if you have Facbook Connect enabled. My wife doesn’t have it enabled so we experimented with it on Facebook; what we discovered is that when she tried to comment it had a big blue button that notified her that it was going to go on TechCrunch as well; she was not able to comment without hitting the button, which says that any comments on Facebook posts that use this new system must go on both. There is no way to comment on these posts in the same way that a person would comment on a link originally shared within Facebook.

Thus the discussion enabled by this new service requires that comments be available in both. Buyer beware, and all that.

Clearly Facebook has learned some lessons on privacy. Even though I have FB Connect enabled, it clearly notifies me in the comment field that my comments are going on both. This is crucial because there is content in my normally private space going beyond the Facebook wall, and I need that kind of knowledge as well as the user control tools to keep it my choice.

Beyond that, though, I think this new system is one of the most interesting new Web tools we’ve seen in a while. There are so many different types of commenting plugins out there (Disqus, Gravatar, etc.) and I hate having to manage multiple accounts. Many forget their passwords with so many different accounts and no unified standard. Using Facebook Connect makes it easy, and I can’t wait for the WordPress plugin so I can make it the default commenting option on my site.

There are some other really important game-changing things about this system.

1. Commenting is content sharing: Posts that generate discussion are shared on Facebook walls, which drives more traffic to posts. It has potential to create a virtuous circle between community and content sharing.

2. Marketing opportunities: Let’s say I’m on a blog and make a negative comment about an experience I had with a company. A savvy company will see this as an opportunity. Any replies to that comment are a chance to publicly perform customer service, not just on that post but also on the person’s Facebook wall. The chance to be a good (or, let’s face it, bad) corporate citizen has just gone up. In other words, if you thought you knew how to do marketing on Facebook, think bigger: the interactive Web just evolved.

3. The problem of anonymity: The Lara Logan incident stirred up the debate again: should we suffer the anonymous fools because of the benefits anonymity gives us? I personally tend more toward anonymity, but there are factors to consider such as the community you want to build. We’ve had tools to do things like troll-rate or link comments to names, but not one that is widespread and easy to install. This Facebook system gives Web builders tools to do more in requiring real names. Now, some are turned off by this and won’t comment on a site that requires real names via Facebook Connect. I suspect the anonymity haters don’t care. It’s their Web site and they have the right to set rules to foster the kind of community they want. Let the haters go elsewhere and then site operators can decide if that’s a good business decision.

4. Tearing down the walls: Facebook has been a walled garden of sorts (how open content is on Facebook depends on user levels of sharing). This hasn’t changed much, but one of the more interesting things about this new system is what happens on Facebook. If I comment on a post, and then someone else comments, I get the usual red-bubble notification. But when I click on the notification, it doesn’t take me to a Facebook page that contains that discussion like it would if it had been a link manually shared on Facebook; in the case of the TechCrunch discussion, it took me to TechCrunch itself. Good for traffic. Great for traffic. Not only is the post itself generating visits (just as a shared link did) but so do comments.

There are some things we’ll need to keep an eye on. Facebook’s sense of privacy has never been pitch perfect. So while it appears the user retains a lot of control with this new system, it means being more vigilant about privacy settings if you want to keep your Facebook profile private. Right now, if you don’t have Connect turned on, nothing changes for you.

Still, this is a whole new world of opportunity for media companies and producers. I see these tools as exciting and think they’ll help drive us more toward communities based on sharing.