Comments: Following Your Comments

By on June 9, 2006 in Conversations with 13 Comments

FootprintsHow do you follow your comments and the conversation that ensues? Maybe the word "how" should be left off that question.

How many times have you made a comment on a post, checked back on it once and forget it’s there. Or, maybe made your comment and just moved on?

What happens if a follow-up comment is one you shouldn’t miss (someone asking for your elaboration)? There are ways to track your comments – though I’m not sure any are a full proof method of staying in touch with a conversation.

Del.Icio.Us: I’ve tried to use del.icio.us to track my comments, but I found it cumbersome in my own personal use – I use del.icio.us for so many other things and I would get distracted.

Kami Huyse uses this method to reach her blogging objective of tracking conversations (See #2). Kami can follow her comments with del.icio.us via RSS feed (so can you)

coComments: I started using coComments in late April. I’ve found it to be a good way to track my comments, but I’m only able to track comments by myself and other coComment users. One reason I like coComments: I can subscribe to the feed for my comments, but also to other coComment users (Here’s Phil’s. Here’s Easton’s).

co.mments: One tool that I haven’t tried yet is co.mments. If you have, let us know your thoughts.

Feeds: Some blogs offer feeds for comments on a per blog (Anne 2.0 site) or per post (Flee the Cube post) basis. I follow so many feeds now, that’s an offer I’ll pass on.

Typepad Hacks has a tip on how to use FeedBurner & Typepad to create a feed for comments. I’ve used this hack for Dr. Delaney Kirk’s class at Drake University and it works great. But that’s one blog with two feeds. What does one do when they follow hundreds of feeds? Multiply them all by two? I don’t think so.

eMail: Availability to track a conversation via email is pretty standard – but again, I fight email overload as it is.

???: What I’d like to see become a standard is a comment count within a feed (Feedburner’s FeedFlare makes this possible for WordPress blogs, but I haven’t seen this implemented with Typepad – yet. Maybe John at TypePad Hacks can share something here.)

What is your practice for following comments? Have you found one that works for you?

Photo on Flickr by nickonline

technorati tags: co.comments co.mments 

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  • http://blog.labnotes.org assaf

    If you want to see follow up comments, why not give co.mments a try?
    You don’t have to register. You can start by just adding a URL to http://co.mments.com/track and wait for the follow up comments to show up.
    It will save you from having to go back and check the page again.

  • http://www.converstations.com Mike Sansone

    Thanks for the advice assaf. As I said in the post, I haven’t tried that tool yet. When you say “wait for the comments to show up” – where exactly do they show up? In the feed? That would be a good way to track a conversation.
    Would enjoy hearing more about your experience with co.mments.

  • http://www.typepadhacks.org/ john t unger

    Hi Mike,
    Feedflare does have a comments count you can use within th efeed and it does work for TypePad. For some reason, my feedflare on TypePad hacks got turned off this week but I’ve reactivated it and you should be able to see it now.
    I also found a new feedflare item in their catalog that allows readers to add track a post in co.mments just by clicking the flare unit. I’ve added that too.
    I’ve been using co.mments for a while and I really find it useful. If you set up an account (free) you should be able to get the hang of it pretty quickly.

  • http://www.converstations.com Mike Sansone

    Thanks John – I’ll go look for both of those glares. Thanks for your thoughts on co.mments

  • http://blog.labnotes.org assaf

    Mike, new comments will show up in your feed. That’s the beauty and simplicity behind it.
    I’m the developer of co.mments, I also use it everyday when I respond to blogs, for example to track this conversation.

  • http://www.converstations.com Mike Sansone

    Thanks for expanding the thought assaf. I’ve signed up for co.mments and this threead. I like it – as John says, very easy to use.
    The thing I like best, is I can follow the whole conversation, not just my comments.

  • Phil Gerbyshak

    I have not tried co.mments yet either, but it looks very interesting. Thanks for sharing the new tool Mike, and thanks to the other readers for sharing more insight into it.

  • http://blog.labnotes.org assaf

    Mike and John, glad you liked it.

  • http://profile.typekey.com/easton_ellsworth/ Easton Ellsworth

    Mike, I’ve posted my thoughts on coComment and co.mments before. Bottom line: I still use them both and find them complementary to one another, and while both are still sometimes buggy, they are also both always improving. Together they perform what del.icio.us did for me before and more, so I’ve stopped using del.icio.us to track my comments.

  • http://www.converstations.com Mike Sansone

    I agree Easton. Both used together make a powerful tool – especially because of the feeds available.
    Another way to use co.mments is to track a conversation I haven’t jumped into yet. For a business, this can be a great way “eavesdrop” and get a pulse prior to taking an action.

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