We have the honor of working with TownSquare Media and Facebook to launch the first version of Facebook’s comments on all of the 170 TownSquare WordPress sites. The effect was both powerful and immediate.
- 45% of the FB referrals were from new users.
- 10x increase in number of comments per site with quite a few articles now showing double digit numbers (e.g. see TasteofCountry.com with over 200 comments)
Read more on businessinsider.com or on the facebook blog!
The power of Facebook commenting really comes down to the fact that Facebook users have on average about 120 trusted “friends” on their network. When someone comments on the blog, the comment is propagated back to the user’s Facebook wall for all their friends to see. This, then brings the conversation back to the trusted network, and entices friends to go out and participate on the site.
The other key to the system is that as a Facebook user, it is deliciously easy to participate. If you’re logged in to Facebook and you come across a site that has Facebook commenting enabled, you’ll see a picture of yourself in the comments window. You can’t help but feel like you’re already engaged in the post when you see a picture of yourself in the comments section.
Someone once told me that the most beautiful thing you can say to someone is their name. Indeed, the most engaging websites you can find are the ones that feature you.