Moderating comments has often been a struggle for online publishers, and today Facebook has released a major update to its commenting plugin with several launch partners, including the Today Show, Discovery.com, TechCrunch and Examiner.com. You can see the comments live right here.
(Full disclosure: I work at msnbc.com, which runs the Today Show site.)
The biggest new features of the plugin focus on moderation. You can blacklist words, ban users and limit the visibility of offensive comments (instead of deleting a comment, you just set it so it only appears to that user and his/her friends. Nifty.) It also displays comments based on social connections, so your friend’s comment will appear at the top.
So why would publishers switch to Facebook? First, it provides distribution. If a user comments on a story without unchecking the “post to Facebook” box, the comment appears on that user’s wall, underneath a link to that story. And second, using Facebook requires your real identity, which (in theory) means users should be a little more constructive in their comments. Say good-bye to anonymous trolls. However, you can post a comment as your page identity, which may introduce new spamming opportunities.
“This is the first time Facebook has enabled this kind of automatic external posting,” TechCrunch explains. “Historically everything you’ve posted on Facebook has stayed on Facebook.” Clearly, Facebook wants to be the de facto community platform for sites large and small, but for some, ceding the community to Facebook’s platform may raise a few eyebrows. Your thoughts?
For more details on the new plugin, here’s the documentation.