How Facebook Comments Killed the Techcrunch Community @Disqus

Several months ago I was thrilled that Techcrunch moved over to the Disqus commenting platform for all it's comments. I'm a huge fan of Disqus and I only comment on sites that use it as it keeps all my comments in one place.

However, for reasons that Techcrunch are claiming are to do with Spam/Trolls they moved over to the new and IMHO awful Facebook comments. The Spam and Moderation controls on Facebook comments are vastly inferior to the well established Disqus system.

Since then I've not commented on Techcrunch and I've no desire to read what few comments are now left there.

Today as an example I looked at the Top 20 Posts at Techcruch to see how many comments their were. Here are the results

0 Comments - 5 Posts
1-5 Comments - 6 Posts
6-10 Comments - 3 Posts
11-15 Comments - 5 Posts
>15 Comments - 1 Post

In the past nearly every post when they used Disqus would have over 30 Comments each and it was a really great place to read peoples comments.

It's obvious to me that Facebook Comments has effectively killed the community at Techcrunch and I'm sure this is hurting their stats.

I wonder how long it will take them to realise this and go back to Disqus or are they too afraid of losing face by backtracking?

20 comments:

  1. I have no idea what techcrunch is - but facebook seems to be taking over everything, that fucking like button is appearing all over the internet now.
    It's not that I do anything bad online but I don't want everyone on my facebook list to see everyfucking thing I do elsewhere online.
    And in some respects it makes a mockery of their own privacy settings - for instance I was using one of their social/dating apps - I set my account so that anything I did on that, and even the fact that I used it - did not show on my my profile.
    Then they added the 'like' button to the app which meant that anyone who 'liked' my profile placed a direct link to it on their wall.
    I no longer use that app.

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  2. Are the new comments less insulting? Maybe it got too hostile on TechCrunch. That is why they moved to the Facebook comments.

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  3. I never really noticed that they were that insulting to start with. They certainly were a lot livelier than they are now. Real shame as the comments were one of the great parts of techcrunch

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  4. Absolutely agree. Disqus is awesome, and I've been using it for over a year now. But despite Facebook's annoying habits, you have to admit that it has really upped its innovation and game.

    Everywhere you look on the web, you find Facebook. That is the reason why no other social networking sites have been able to compete let alone match Facebook. But I'm getting tired of the whole Facebook hoopla.

    As far Disqus comments vs Facebook commenting system is concerned, Disqus wins hands down. You must've noticed that despite Facebook's overwhelming majority, major sites are adopting Disqus. It is simply because Disqus is committed to its roots that is the commenting system. Facebook on the other hand has to look at a vast arena of its products and services and hence they lose out on the performance and satisfaction of their commenting system users.

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  5. Awesome comment Hamza, I could not have put it better myself.

    Disqus is focused on Comments, Facebook is not and as you have said that is why Disqus is much better

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  6. I too agree with your post. Actually, I was not aware of this. But, your post gave me idea on this. Thanks for sharing it with us.

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  7. As soon as I found one of my favorite sites turned to use facebook's comment box and I couldn't comment on that site with non-FB account, I found this post.

    I'm pleased that there's not just I think FB comment box is poor... :P

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  8.  Looking at this now, it would appear as though the TC's numbers have returned to "normal".  I'm guessing that perhaps TC admins had the controls too tight, or that regular, long-time readers weren't yet quite comfortable with the swap over?

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  9. Dan Taylor are you sure? The comment counts I see of TC home page currently are3
    1
    3
    33
    14
    8
    6
    2
    6
    1
    2
    6
    18
    15
    0
    0
    19
    7

    They used to have 50+ for almost every post.

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  10. Hmmm...time issue?  I just checked a few of the top trending stories and they all had a healthy comment stream.  Fear not...I'm on the disqus side of this argument. ;) 

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  11. web design chennai26 May 2011 at 09:41

    I agree with yours,because i had the same things earlier.but comments are come back soon.And your blog is very nice because the theme is very nice>keep share always.

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  12. It's obvious to me that Facebook Comments has effectively killed the community at Techcrunch and I'm sure this is hurting their stats. I wonder how long it will take them to realise this and go back to Disqus.

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  13. You guys make a great points towards using Disqus. It does look like a lot better system with the different services you can sign in with. But then again there is the power behind sharing posts within a user's Facebook social circle.

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  14. I discovered even on well liked blogs visitor bloggers convey identical ideas which I currently know. I discerned they
    just trial to flavour up their item without understanding what actually assembly desire to read.

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  15. We are considering using facebook comments or Disqus in our website http://micbook.net, thank you for your useful post.
    They all has disadvantage that the comments cannot be googled, it is a big lost for us.

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  16. I have come across some blogs & webcomic sites that use Facebook comments.The big problem is than they aer too limiting. Disqus which I use allows for guest commenting. Facebook comment system allows no option for anyone not on facebook & the few other logins there is to choose from. I tried facebook & hated it so I refuse to be forced to sign back up again so I can comment on the occasional blog. FB comments on blogs in my opinion is an extremely bad idea. As Is aid too limiting. To have this system is to simply deter many potential commenters. I would never use it.

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