However one utilizes their own blog, they almost always rely on two things, readers and reader’s comments. Without any type of feedback from the reader, you typically lose interest in writing and regular posting dies like it does with many blogs everyday.

The problem is, most readers almost always need some type of motivation to provide the type of feedback you are looking for. Many times a user comments on someone’s blog, asking a question or adding a simple thank you, only to forget about it by day’s end. Without any real way of turning the comment into a conversation, the reader will not likely comment on their next visit. Some blogs, including MakeUseOf, do offer the ability to subscribe to a thread of comments and send notifications by e-mail. These however, can become an annoyance to many readers, especially when that check box is selected by default. Why not allow the user to control their own comments in their own way?

This brings me to today’s post. Back in 2007 we wrote about a couple of different comment tracking systems, one of which has died, that give you the ability to track your daily comments with responses, stats and adding more capability to the typical blog conversation. Since that original post, many more options have arrived on the scene and I’m bringing you a few of the more popular ones today. I’ve separated each of the sections into their own respective category.

Track Comments (For Blog Readers)

CoComment

CoComment is a Firefox and/or blog add-on that not only follows all of the comments you’ve submitted on any compatible blog platform, but also opens you up to more conversations and may even garner you more traffic to your respective blog.

Compatible blog platforms include Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad and Movable Type.

Different platforms will display the CoComment toolbar in different ways, but once it’s working properly, you’ll have the ability to track any comment.

After that, CoComment.com can track all of your conversations.

Commentful

Commentful is not all that much different than CoComment, in that it also includes a Firefox add-on for conversation tracking.

Commentful also supports all of the major blogging platforms, can track up to 200 conversations, and can track items up to 365 days of the year.

If you’d prefer not to install the FF add-on, you may also use a simple ‘Add to Commentful’ bookmarklet. However, with the extension you have the added benefit of receiving notification on updated conversations.

Manually add a URL to your watchlist.

Monitor your comment tracking via the Commentful website, or through an RSS feed.

BackType

With Backtype you not only have the ability to track your current conversations in real-time, but you also have the ability to claim previously written comments. They do this with their unique search system. Their advanced search algorithm also offers the ability to search by keyword and setup alerts for indexed comments.

A look at BackType trends. A summary of the most popular keyword searches that relate to you.

Setting up keyword alerts is very similar to Google Alerts, but by indexing comments only.

Commenting Systems (For Blog Moderators)

Disqus

Disqus is a commenting system and an add-on that not only enhances your blog but essentially turns each post into its own forum for discussion at forumname.disqus.com. Once the code is implemented, Disqus takes over the currently implemented system for Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad and more.

One of the great things about Disqus that just recently came about is Facebook Connect integration. It’s not enabled by default, but does have the ability.

Jorge did an in-depth write-up of Disqus back in December here.

A look at the Disqus integration about page.

Once enabled on your site, a user may easily connect to Disqus and monitor their profile in real-time.

Intense Debate

IntenseDebate is another blog enhancement, compatible with all the major platforms that also takes over your present comment system. It not only converts your present system into threaded comments automatically, but also the ability to reply to comments by e-mail and through your RSS reader.

So essentially it not only takes over the commenting machine, but also your comment moderation machine. It also includes user profiles for worldwide tracking as well.

A look at the threaded comments on Intense Debate’s official blog.

A look at my empty dashboard on IntenseDebate

SezWho

SezWho, another competitor to the previously mentioned two, but with somewhat different abilities. It does include user profiles, for comment tracking, and a similar conversation aspect, but its main feature is its rating system.

After SezWho is put in place, it creates a rating scale for each comment on your blog. These rated comments may then be filtered and organized to your liking.

A look at a blog with SezWho implemented.

A summarized screenshot of a user profile and their reputation for each comment.

As you can see, whether you are looking to implement something to entice more discussion on your blog, or you’re just simply looking to track your own comments, you do have some options. Try each of the tools out and see if they fit what you might be looking for. All of the above sites are well established and very easy to use, so you shouldn’t be disappointed with your options.

Let us know what you think. Have you used any of these products? Do you find them useful or recommend them for anyone specific?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• Give Your Wordpress Comments A Makeover With Disqus (12)
• The First Wordpress Plugins You Must Install (29)
• Liven Up Your Wordpress Blog Comments With MyAvatars (6)
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• How To Upgrade Your Wordpress Blog Automatically (16)

I noticed that many of our commenters are not making use of Gravatar yet. Of course you don’t have to. But maybe you would like to and just haven’t found a cool enough image to represent you online so far. Here’s a small selection of online avatar creator tools that may float your boat.

DoppelMe

Would you be surprised if this site was different than all the rest? Well, it’s not really. You start with a naked avatar, select little bits and pieces from a variety of looks, styles, and extras, then you’re done.

Unfortunately, you only get access to all the options when you sign up with the site, hence my slightly annoyed face. But once you have signed up and in, there are plenty of unique options – with the exception of a cool posture.

Simpsonize Me (Simpson Avatar Creator)

This Simspon avatar maker is in fact different because you can’t get it started without a photo of yourself. Based on the photo and some details about your gender, age, color of Simpson you’d like to be, choice of clothing, and hair style, the machine will create a suggestion which you can perfectionize using a few sliders and custom settings.

They denied me the Marge hair tower, though. Probably because I selected straight instead of curly.

ObamiconMe

And now for the highlight: the Obama hype moves on…now we have Obama avatar generator as well.

At ObamiconMe you can upload your own image or acquire an image through your webcam. There is no restriction on image size and you can zoom into any picture. The text below the image can be customized, as well as the color balances. Simple and cool.

In case you want to use any of these avatars for Gravatar don’t worry too much about the exact size or resolution. Gravatar lets you crop the image when uploading.

Sill need more resources? Don’t know how to use Gravatar to get your picture next to your comments? Let me refer you to some other MUO articles. Here you go:

Create Avatars Online Without Any Image Editing by Varun
Liven Up Your Wordpress Blog Comments With MyAvatars by Mark
Get A Pic Next To Your Comments On MakeUseOf & Other Blogs by Aibek

And now is the time to comment and show off your new Gravatar. If you are aware of any other good online avatar creator apps,please share them in comments.

Picture credits: mzacha

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• Create Avatars Online Without Any Image Editing (14)
• How To Make A Customized Background On MySpace (3)
• How to Create Animated Gifs from Images & Video (11)
• Get a Pic Next to Your Comments on MakeUseOf & Other Blogs (19)
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When you integrate Disqus (pronounced “discuss”) with your WordPress blog, you create a new Disqus community that mirrors the post/comment activity on the blog. The blog post becomes the start of a new discussion and the comments are the subsequent thread. Members can also post to the community that you create. This is a great way for readers of your blog to start discussions with you and all of your readers.

As a Disqus user, all the comments you post to other Disqus-enabled blogs will appear on your profile page (you don’t need a blog to have a Disqus account). This is a nice way for others to see all your words of wisdom that you have shared on other blogs. It is also a good method for finding other users and communities you may be interested in following.

Disqus also plays nice with the built-in WordPress commenting system. Existing comments will be imported into Disqus and when comments are posted onto Disqus they are kept in sync with your WordPress blog. If you change your mind later and you no longer want to use Disqus, you can simply uninstall it. You don’t have to worry about losing comments that were posted through Disqus.

To install Disqus on your Wordpress blog:

• Create an account on Disqus.
• Download the Disqus for Wordpress plugin.
• Place the contents of the archive in your WordPress plugins directory.
• Activate the plugin and navigate to Comments > DISQUS.



• Enter your Disqus login credentials and proceed with the installation process.

  

• If you would like to import your existing WordPress comments into Disqus, select Advanced Options and click Import.

For further installation details, you can visit the Disqus integration page and view the Disqus documentation for WordPress.

When a blog is converted to use Disqus, individuals that commented on the blog prior to the conversion can claim their imported comments. When users claim comments, verification links are sent to the email addresses used to post the comments. The Disqus users can click the verification links to associate comments on the converted blog with their profiles.

Disqus also automatically subscribes commenters to any responses to their comments. They will receive the responses at the email address they provided with the comment. The best part of this feature is that they can respond via email! There’s no need to revisit the blog post and respond there, as it can all be done by replying to the email.

Disqus also allows non-Disqus members to post comments just as they would normally on any WordPress blog. Users just provide their name, email address, and post the comment. Responses to their comments are sent to their email address and they can reply by email just the same as Disqus users.  Comments by non-Disqus comments are basically treated the same as imported comments.  If non-Disqus commenters do eventually sign up for Disqus accounts, they can also claim their comments to associate them with their new account.

Unfortunately, WordPress is the only well-documented platform for Disqus at this time. The Disqus help page states that MovableType, Tumblr, Blogger, and TypePad are also supported, but the help links just go to a “coming soon” page.  They also have a JavaScript interface in the works (which would allow you to integrate with any platform), but again there is no documentation for it yet.

Fortunately, there is a well-documented Disqus API. That means that developers can integrate Disqus on other platforms that are not officially supported, which is good news for users (and potential users) on the following platforms:

• Drupal
• b2evolution
• Graffiti
• Joomla
• RubyGem

If your blog does not use one of these platforms or uses one of the undocumented platforms that Disqus claims to support, then IntenseDebate might be a better option for you. IntenseDebate can use JavaScript to display comments, so it can be easily integrated into any blog.

However, IntenseDebate does not have the community features and profile pages are only limited to the last 5 comments posted. Disqus makes all comments you’ve made available from your profile, not just the last five. If you’d like to see Disqus comments in action, here are a few blogs that implement them:

• louisgray.com
• VentureBeat
• obscurely famous
• The Eagle-Tribune

You might want to also check out some Disqus profile pages:

• Louis Gray
• Duncan Riley
• Daniel Ha

What do you think of Disqus and other commenting systems?   Which one do you prefer?  Do you use Disqus on your blog?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• 3 Commenting Systems & 3 Apps to Track Comments (8)
• The First Wordpress Plugins You Must Install (29)
• Liven Up Your Wordpress Blog Comments With MyAvatars (6)
• Kaltura Adds Video Management To Your WordPress Blog (11)
• How To Upgrade Your Wordpress Blog Automatically (16)

See the screenshot below if you’re not sure what I mean.

So how do I get an avatar next to my comments ?

It’s very easy. Simply go to Gravatar, signup, and upload the pic that you want to use as your avatar.

Also make sure that the email address you use on your comment is the same one you use to sign up on Gravatar.

Done!

Next time you comment on MakeUseOf it will automatically add your avatar to the comment. And not only MakeUseOf, but also most other blogs too.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• 3 Fun Online Avatar Creators to Represent Yourself (6)
• Your Turn to Join MakeUseOf on Twitter! (8)
• Your Turn To Join MakeUseOf On Twitter! (1)
• Welcome To The Improved Make Use Of Comments Area (23)
• Welcome Three New Writers to the MUO Team (10)