Outsourcing comments to Google+
A few weeks ago I quietly (or not so quietly, as it were) disabled comments on my blog. It was something I’d been considering for a while, and I finally resolved to do it after talking with Shane Becker at IndieWebCamp back in June. Shane takes the stance that his site should be about him and his content. If you want to comment or respond, you’re welcome to do so… just find your own place to publish it (like your own blog, perhaps).
I’m not interested in building a community or a personal brand, so I really don’t care about capturing engagement here on my site. I do value a lot of the comments I get however, so I’m not looking to cut things off entirely. Instead, I’ve decided to outsource my comments to Google+.
Today we announced the launch of the Google+ API, starting with read access to public data. Using the new API together with the +1 button, I’ve added support to my snowflake to share my posts to Google+, and then to easily direct conversations from my blog to there. It allows me to keep my own home on the web dedicated to just my content, and at the same time leverage the great community that has formed around Google+.
Please try it out yourself, and let me know how it works for you. This was the work of a single evening, so I’m sure I’ll enhance it over time. Please file any bugs or feature requests you have.