Which Commenting Platform is the Best?

This is an update to the post I wrote last year. Things change and we always want to keep you up to date!!

Ask five bloggers which commenting system they use on their site and you will probably get five different answers.  There are many, including but not limited to:

• WordPress
• Livefyre
• CommentLuv
• Disqus
• Facebook
• Google+

But which one is the best?

Well, that depends on whom you ask. I've tried them all and for my personal site, I finally decided on CommentLuv because it best fit my needs there. However, on this site we use Livefyre because it fits THIS site better.  So it all comes down to, what do you want to get out of it?

Kelly and I decided to attack this one together, and she spent some time researching the pros and cons of  the three big platforms.  As you will see, they really are similar except for a few things.

DISQUS

Pros

• Can log in through Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Disqus
• Mobile supported
• Comments can be liked
• Can upload images to comment box
• “Reactions” feature (tracks who mentions blog posts on Twitter)
• Displays profile of user (including activity)
• Participate in conversation directly from email
• Real time comments
• Huge user base
• Visitors can comment without login

Cons

• Allows spammers (auto hyperlink)
• Lacking help section
• Comments are saved on Disqus server so if you ever switch, you will lose everything
• Look cannot be customized

Livefyre

Pros

• Can log in through Google, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Livefyre
• Mobile supported
• Real time pop-up with new comments
• Best customer support team
• Tagging feature (Facebook and Twitter)
• Can share comments on Facebook
• Shows number of people online/listening
• Encourages ongoing conversation
• SocialSync (pulling Facebook & Twitter comments into your content in real-time)
• SEO credit
• Follow people/they can follow you
• If people leave a lot of comments, it aggregates all of them into one email
• Multiple moderators
• See user activity
• Uses social media as an extension of your blog
• Best system for preventing spammers

Cons

• No backlink
• Some may not like the social interaction element

Comment Luv

Pros

• The big draw is this ability to leave a link to one of your latest posts under the comment that you leave.  This encourages people to leave a comment as they can promote their latest content.
• Usually leads to increased number of blog visitors/commenters
• Targeted traffic
• Rewards your readers with a chance to promote their blog

Cons

• Attracts spammers
• Mostly about marketing vs. function
• Have to use the paid version to get the most out of it
• Exclusive to WordPress
• Does not work well for mobile
• Google has recently started penalizing comments without “nofollow” links.

Facebook

Pros

• Easy to use. Most people are on Facebook and understand the authorization
• Can use criteria such as quality and time of comments (social influence) to put comments in order
• Harder for spammers to leave comments sinc you have to have an actual Facebook profile

Cons

• No links to blogs or websites, only to Facebook profile
• Not everyone wants their comments to populate to Facebook (if they don’t see the opt out, it posts to their profile page)
• If you remove the Facebook platform, you lose all the comments

Google+

Pros

• If you’re logged into Google, it’s easy to use
• Great for building your Google+ network and community
• If it’s fully integrated into your blog, comments can show up on your blog, Google+ and the commenters Google+ profile
• Reduces spam comments since you have to have a real Google+ profile

Cons

• No links to blogs or websites, only to the Google+ profile
• If commenters are concerned about privacy, they may be hesitant to leave comments
• No notifications when comments are left
• If you remove it, you lose the comments.

My personal preference out of all of them is Livefyre. The one con that is listed here for them is big enough for me to NOT use it on my personal blog. I love CommentLuv, but quite honestly, if Livefyre ever adds backlinks to their service, I would go back to using it in a heartbeat.

What about you - which platform do you use and why?