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We will certainly do something fair and balanced, but to be honest we haven't really decided what we'll do yet.
And it will automatically run the script for you on load
Now, don't get me wrong, I think they have streamlined some of the process I was using to track my comments but what they are doing here is not revolutionary.
Plus, who besides uber geeks actually wants to use this service? I think it appeals to a very, very small group of people, who if prompted to pay would have plenty of free alternatives to use.
And personally, I would be quite put off if they decided to start taking my comments and the content I provided and then add in a rev share program, especially if it wasn't stated from the start.
Yep, I knew someone would pursue the not-for-mainstream-audiences line, and you're right. Kinda. I'm bound to be biased towards the things I find useful, and over-dramatic titles are a symptom of that. But that's not to say Co-Comment couldn't appeal to non-bloggers - in fact, it may be an alternative to maintaining your own blog - just comment on other blogs and aggregate your comments. The long tail of bloggers is actually pretty huge, although admittedly it's only a fraction of the entire web population.
It's not a service for your Mom and Dad (at least not in it's current form), but the CoComment team have (perhaps unknowingly) established a system which will experience strong network effects. And besides, the vast majority of companies that get talked about in geek circles aren't ready for mainstream audiences - they're too far ahead of the curve for that. But we can be sure that a lot of these services will find their way into the mainstream in the next few years - perhaps by being acquired by companies that can take them to a bigger audience.
Yes, the titles are hyperbolic, but the posts themselves are fairly sensible. I responded on your blog, and in the comments over at the Edgeio post.
Yes, I think you're missing something: network effect. Del.icio.us is easy to clone. Digg is easy to clone. Both have been cloned, but few of the clones have gained traction. Why? Network effect - it's a market where first mover advantage might count for something. Take a look at the Edgeio post for more hints on how network effect might be important.
Other than that, I think it is a cool idea - with more automation it could be a really helpful tool!
I totally agree with the network effect. For instance, i was just looking the page of Laurent, the right brain of cocomment, and i just saw that the title was nice, the thread was there. So i read and come to this website...
Totaly agree also with this point: no need to have a typepad access, wordpress with a slicy design (or a cheap theme). Just TALKING !
And jupping from discussion to another...
A glamorous noise from the network, like flickr, but with discussions. I'm waiting to see asia markets jumping into this application.
About the "more automation", what do you mean ? It can't be more automated !
I love, love, LOVE your phrase "hyperbolic declarations of awesomeness." :)
Yes, I was over the top, but I think I've explained my position better in the comments.
I'm not sure why you'd say coComment isn't decentralized - I think it is. I don't think I'll visit the coComment site very much, but I'll happily subscribe to the feed (which, in fact, seems to link back to coComment.com) and display those comments in my blog sidebar. With these various inputs and outputs, the system is open enough that decentralization probably isn't a huge threat.
So, I just signed up for CoComment, and it works pretty well. A clever idea which I hope has the business model to make it sustainable. We'll see.
The value of the conversation is often as valuable as the original thought, so there should be a way of making it work. On face value, it seems much better than 3bubbles, for example, which I feel adds less value to the original content, since the user-generated content is, by nature, temporal in nature.
Great blog, btw. I like it when I read a blog and feel that it is not a total waste of time.
~G~
Glad you enjoyed my phrasing. :-D
Part of the problem with coComment is the issue of control. I don't control coComment, and there's no guarantee that coComment's servers won't buckle under heavy load, or worse, there's no guarantee that they won't outright go out of business. And unless they have a solid business model, that's a clear danger given their startup status. Of course, lately, my own site has been probably far more unreliable than coComment could ever imagine being, but that's neither here nor there, and certainly won't apply to most people.
The biggest problem is that coComment is a hack, and complete decentralization can not only solve the problem more elegantly, but also more scalably.
Imagine this future scenario:
No bookmarklets. You write some comment on my blog and immediately, your comments feed is updated with no interaction whatsoever on your part. (Unless you're not logged into your site, in which case it redirects to your site, you log in, and your site redirects you back after dropping a cookie on your machine to keep you logged in. Otherwise known as OpenID. Keeps the system from being abused by spammers.) Your own blog has complete control over the representation of that comment stream. It could be rendered as another blog, as a bunch of comments in your sidebar, or just stored in a table on the backend and not displayed at all. Whatever, it doesn't matter. Meanwhile you're also free to render the comments feed however you wish. You can specify a creative commons license if you wish, or embed geocoding information if that's your thing. Heck, you could use why the lucky stiff's !okay/news as your feed format.
See, that's decentralization. And if you can do it, it's almost always the better choice.
Now, the way I'm currently thinking this should be implemented (a huge part of this concept is Jacob Stetser's idea, mind you, credit where it's due), your blog would be able to delegate the processing of comments to some other third party, much as OpenID allows you to do with authentication. So if we turn this into a standard and coComment decides to support it, even if your blog doesn't support the system directly, you could update your blog template and have a delegate link pointing to coComment's servers. You'd get the exact same functionality as you do right now, but with the extra advantage that you don't need the bookmarklet that many people are going to forget to use.
Frankly, I think that's what coComment should have tried to do from the start. It's just that it's a bit too ambitious for a startup, but certainly not for a community effort. Everyone writes plugins for their favorite blog engine and we all go home happy.
I have been trying cocomment since yesterday and it really is cool. My team had developed a clunky version for us to track word of mouth of iNods using what we call a wom|meter, but cocomment is way cool.
Having said that the barrier to entry really is low. For example: today their site was down or something and the cocomment box of my comments on my blog disappeared ( I didnt see one on your site either). A few more of these and the users will flee to the next service that comes along.
Also I think if they start putting ads next to my comment content aggregated on their site, I think I will definitely object to that. Thier value is not so high for them to use my content to drive ad revenues - dont you think so? Also I really feel this goes against the central theme of giving the control of user-generated content to the users.
Yeah, saw it. Kinda like Gabbly, but with forums instead of live chat.
http://www.faceyspacey.com/cool_stuff/
-James
from FaceySpacey.com, Your One Stop Social Media Shop
However I find the style ugly, clustered and too intrusive - I want a simple gadget that tracks my conversations nothing else... without all that "sharing" and other junk and the frequent errors with CoComment.
I have found there are actually better alternatives - now.