Disqus is for Conversing not for Throwing

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Do you have a challenge keeping up with all social media tools? I certainly do. And maybe I need help.

Clearly I’m somewhat in overload, going by an experience this morning of trying to subscribe to one and finding I was already subscribed. In fact, when I got them to send me my password and then logged in, I found I had set up my profile there, with a photo and the usual “about me” stuff.

I also realised I didn’t have much more than a slight clue about what the service does or why I joined - other than the usual combination of fascination with bright, shiny things and a fear of missing out on the cool new app.

There was also the challenge of not knowing how to pronounce the name of the application, Disqus.

My inclination was to pronounce that like the thing that gets thrown, the discus, which I thought was a fair guess.

But no, it’s supposed to be pronounced like that thing that mature, consenting adults do, i.e. “discuss”.

So what does it do? What purpose does it serve?

Here is what the About page says:

Disqus, pronounced “discuss”, is a service and tool for web comments and discussions. The Disqus comment system can be plugged into any website, blog, or application. Disqus makes commenting easier and more interactive, while connecting websites and commenters across a thriving discussion community.

So far, so good. But what does that really mean? What was I supposed to do with this tool and what benefits would it deliver?

I knew, mainly from what I’d read on Twitter, that several people I respect spoke positively about Disqus, so rather than spending time hunting around for a guide, I would work through what was on the site. Experiential learning. Or reckless experimenting, depending on your point of view.

Anyway, as a next step I went back and checked the website and found that I could apparently do two things:

• add my website to Disqus (whatever that meant)
• “register as a commenter” (whatever that meant)

I chose to add my website first, clicked on the install on the website link, provided the site URL (http://www.deswalsh.com), site name (Des Walsh dot Com)and a unique identifier (deswalsh) to form the Disqus URL deswalsh.disqus.com for my own home page on the Disqus site.

The next screen gave me a set of platform options: WordPress, MovableType, Typepad, Blogger and “generic”.

I had read positive things about the WordPress plugin, so clicked there and went through the usual processes of uploading, installing and configuring the plugin. There are a number of options, under the several headings/tabs of Moderate, Settings, Tools and Permissions. I’ve been through to do some basic configuration, including setting moderation permissions as on for all comments.

I’m wondering whether the moderation permission options are adequate for me, or retrogressive for this blog. The situation till now has been that  once people have had a comment approved, subsequent comments from those people are not moderated automatically. But that option does not seem to be available with Disqus. As the screenshot below shows, the permission options are:

• No - i.e. no moderation
• from unregistered people (which presumably means people who have registered as readers - very few do this)
• from everyone

I’m not sure how Disqus could fix this, but I believe it would be in their interest to do so: I quite like the idea that people who have had a comment approved should be trusted to leave non-spammy, non-inappropriate comments in future, without their having to be moderated each time.

There is also a widget to highlight commenters: I’ve installed that. And a Seesmic configuration, which means that people can leave Seesmic-enabled video comments. Maybe even Loic would care to leave a video comment! That would be nice.

Back for a moment to that personal page on the Disqus site. I find it somewhat disconcerting that on that page now are displayed, in excerpt fashion, a bunch of posts from this blog from April this year then going back. Nothing more recent. Also the leading post is from what was meant to be a private page. Mysterious. Maybe there is a refresh coming up which will bring the data up to more recent postings.

I regard this installation as an experiment and my priority is for user convenience over other issues such as possible increased traffic. So I welcome feedback, positive or negative.

New Project to Help Explain Social Media

It was good to be invited to be a member of the Interim Advisory Board for the Social Media Club.

And now we get serious.

After a short burst of behind-the-scenes tossing around of ideas on priorities for our attention, Social Media Club Co-Founder Chris Heuer has posted a work program structured as 4 Missions, 4 Projects.

As a colleague of mine, formerly in the military, used to say, we’ve been “tasked”.

Albeit with more personal flexibility than would have obtained in the military.

The 4 Missions are:

1. Expand Media Literacy
2. Share Lessons Learned Among Practitioners
3. Encourage Adoption of Industry Standards
4. Promote Ethical Practices through Discussion and Actions

I’ve put my hand up to be part of the group working on Mission 1 - Expand Media Literacy. Under this heading, my fellow member of the interim advisory board Michael Brito is leading a push “to find and organize all the best Introduction to Social Media presentations, classes, discussions, cartoons, videos, blog posts etc”.

I’m excited about this project and see it as providing a much-needed resource, especially for people whose job or consulting role requires them to understand and explain clearly the rapidly moving, shape-shifting, color-changing phenomenon we call “social media”.

But it’s not just the members of the interim advisory board who are being invited and challenged to work on the “expand media literacy” item or other missions/projects. The invitation is open to anyone who wants to participate: so if you are inclined to help, just head on over to the Social Media Club wiki and get into it.

Incidentally, the interim advisory board is now being referred to as the interim advisory “group” (so as not to get embroiled in discussions about “boards”) - good move, in my opinion.

Catching Up with the IBNMA Advisory Board Announcement

I was delighted with the announcement last week of the new Advisory Board for IBNMA - the International Blogging and New Media Association. Not just because I’m one of the people on the Board, although that is indeed an honour and a privilege, but because I see the appointment of the Board as evidence that the Executive Board members are keen to build a seriously sized and dynamic organization.

The IBNMA Executive Board members, seasoned business people that they are, would be well aware that appointing a whole bunch of enthusiasts to an advisory board is not going to make their own task easier. On the contrary, it will inevitably put more demand on their time and attention. That they went ahead nevertheless and are actually planning to appoint more people to the Advisory Board, is a tribute to their individual and collective generosity of spirit and willingness to embrace a big vision.

So kudos to IBNMA founder Rick Calvert, founding president Miles Durfee, Jim Turner, Zane Safrit and new President Paul Chaney.

I’m looking forward to working with them and with my colleagues on the Advisory Board - follow the links from their names, check out their credentials and achievements and you’ll see why it is not false modesty when I say that being invited into this group is for me truly an honour and a privilege:

Ann Handley

Chris Brogan

Erin Kotecki Vest

Larry Genkin

LawShawn Barber

Toby Bloomberg

Todd Carpenter

There are more details in the press release issued last week.

If you have ideas or suggestions about how IBNMA could support the interests of blogging and new media communities, I would be happy to pass them on.

And if you chose to join IBNMA I’d have even more incentive to pass on your suggestions.

Interview with Yovia Founder Jalali Hartman

Recently I interviewed entrepreneur Jalali Hartman, Founder and CEO of the Yovia network, of which I am pleased to be a founding member.

Although the interview is posted on my Social Media Show site, that site is still being established so I do not want the interview to not surface because of that. So I’m including it here too.

Some of the subjects we discussed:

• how even experienced tech hotshots can learn from high school kids about the possibilities of the Web
• how to deal with corporate resistance to the introduction of social media
• why the Yovia motto is “Spread the Word”
• why some 2,000 bloggers and even whole villages in Africa are part of the Yovia network
• how to keep a human balance in the midst of the pressures of a tech startup
• how to get paid to blog by hooking up with Yovia

Where to Hang Out with Social Media Peers

When I started in the coaching industry several years ago, I took the advice of the late and much lamented doyen of coaches, Thomas Leonard, to “hang out with coaches”. It was great advice. And I believe it is great advice for any business, profession or industry, to hang out with your peers in that field.

You get to have conversations with people who understand what you are talking about, you get to know the latest events and gossip in your industry, you get - if you can take it - challenges and hopefully helpful, informed critiques of your views and opinions.

Let’s face it, that’s probably why we go to conferences, more than to hear the presentations.

For the social media strategist part of my business, I find it absolutely essential to hang out - online most of the time and then when possible face to face - with others who are professionally focused on social media or at least genuinely interested. It’s also fun.

So where to hang out?

Well, in addition to such freewheeling, fascinating sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, there are organizations which are more or less focused on social media generally or on some particular aspect. Some are free to join, some have fees.

Amber Naslund’s post Social Media Group Therapy lists and comments very helpfully on several of these groups:

• Marketing 2.0
• Society for Word of Mouth
• Social Media Club
• Word of Mouth Marketing Association
• International Blogger and New Media Association
• Society for New Communications Research
• Blog Council

I’m a member of and actively involved in the Social Media Club (SMC), including being on the Interim Advisory Board group announced the other week.

I’m also a member of the International Blogger and New Media Association (IBNMA).

Inspired by Amber’s post I’m going to have a look also at Marketing 2.0.

The trick is to find the group or groups that work for you.

All of the above groups, unless I’m mistaken, have originated in the USA and are “headquartered” there. As always, I’m interested to know of other not-for-profit groups based on or “headquartered” in other continents or in other countries. If you know of any such, I trust you will share the details here in the comments.