Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

My Little Blog — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:09:57 -0000

CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year?yah that's true..

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Anne — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:46:43 -0000

I find it hard to understand the hype around CoComment. I installed and un-installed CoComment a couple of times. I do find the idea really good - the functionality that allows tracking of conversations on one website, that is great.

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.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

FSWebDevelopment — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:15:54 -0000

We love it here at FaceySpacey:
http://www.faceyspacey.com/...

-James
from FaceySpacey.com, Your One Stop Social Media Shop

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Beavis — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 13:44:15 -0000

Hm. I do not tink so...

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Pete Cashmore — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:42:55 -0000

Silberfish,

Yeah, saw it. Kinda like Gabbly, but with forums instead of live chat.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Silberfisch — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:40:08 -0000

Look at http://webride.org for a solution that doesn't even require a blog to post your opinion. Just every web page can be discussed easily, without the need to install anything (framesets are used). Webmasters can even embed Webride forums (through iframes) into their sites' layout with 3-lines of code. Really cool, but there needs to be more visitors.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Easton Ellsworth — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 01:08:01 -0000

Game-changing update: the cocomment Firefox extension is out. Bottom line: I am more productive thanks to cocomment. Awesome tool.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Jack Vinson — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 07:19:08 -0000

Strangely, when I first tried it on existing comments it didn't work. But now I see that it does. Wonder what that is about.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Vaibhav Domkundwar - iNods.com — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 04:01:56 -0000

Hi Pete:

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.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Bob Aman — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 12:39:29 -0000

Pete,

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.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

George Nimeh — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 09:56:39 -0000

Hi Pete,

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~

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Raphael — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 04:35:14 -0000

"you quickly understand what the network effect is all about." ... i needed two weeks to believe this. During the design phase, i was very sceptical about the conversation effect. The results talk to me now.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Pete Cashmore — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 20:14:12 -0000

Bob,

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.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Bob Aman — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:55:17 -0000

Pete, I have to disagree on the network effect coming into play here. As I mentioned earlier today on my blog, coComment isn't so much competing against other players, but rather against decentralization. And in this case, the same functionality can be implemented at least as elegantly, if not more so, in a decentralized fashion. I think that there are too many advantages to decentralization, in this case, for coComment to be viable long-term.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Dave Lee — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:27:19 -0000

Put another vote in the column of this being the truest representation of web 2.0 services yet out there. it's accessible once you get it the tools installed (yes, they could do better in enabling the setup) you quickly understand what the network effect is all about.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Raphael — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:43:34 -0000

Ahah, thanks for the compliment !
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 !

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Tiago — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:24:11 -0000

I Agree with you! The best web 2.0 service until now. I just dont like their site...

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

TAD — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:02:02 -0000

Ok - two big problems I've found with CoComment: first it's really hard for me to remember to click that damned button. Second, my blog uses the K2 WordPress theme and therefore is listed in CoComment as "untitled." I sent them an email asking to fix it, so we'll hope that they do.

Other than that, I think it is a cool idea - with more automation it could be a really helpful tool!

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

TAD — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 15:51:51 -0000

I think it's an interesting idea, but I haven't fooled around with it enough to see if it's as super duper cool as you think it is. This will be my first attempt at leaving a comment with it to see what I think...

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Pete Cashmore — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 11:33:18 -0000

Mike,

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.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Pete Cashmore — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 10:26:35 -0000

Ken,

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.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Pete Cashmore — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 08:50:50 -0000

Hi Ken,

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.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Scott Fitchet — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 08:42:44 -0000

If you have any extra invites I'd love to try it out.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Ken Yarmosh — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 08:07:55 -0000

Best Web 2.0 service of the year, Pete?

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.

Re: CoComment is The Best Web 2.0 Service Launched This Year

Russell Limprecht — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 06:03:35 -0000

There are updated scripts to make it easier, and I have some invites on my blog.