Tangler: Profiting from the distraction economy
The fragmenting online media world is leading to a world of fragmented online communities, too. More people are participating in discussions on blogs, and on social sites like MySpace and Facebook. And it's becoming impossible to keep up with all of it. Tangler, which we've covered before, is now in beta and addresses this issue. I thought it'd be good to look at this solution and how it compares to some others.
Tangler is building an embeddable discussion system. Later this month, site publishers will be able to embed a Tangler thread widget onto any post, instead of using (or in addition to) the more traditional blog-based talkback mechanism. One big advantage is that Tangler is real-time, like a chat room. But it archives like a discussion thread. An embedded Tangler-like discussion can make a hot post feel even more lively. See samples of an embedded discussion here.
A Tangler thread, embedded in a blog.
(Credit: Tangler)Initially, Tangler was built as a destination site for discussions, and it still works as such. One of the advantages of this architecture is that since Tangler's database is centralized there's (so far) just one log-in for the entire system. So if you're talking on one blog that's using Tangler and then participate on another that is as well, you'll be able to see all your active discussions on Tangler.com. How that's going to square with sites that already have a registration or login system isn't yet clear, although people have talked about using OpenID with Tangler.
Another cool feature: A desktop application that pops up whenever a thread you're participating in is updated. I love this idea. I sure wouldn't want an app for each blog I comment on, but one that covers them all would be great.
The Tangler team still has some work to do before its embedded discussion system will be palatable to publishers. The Tangler branding is a bit heavy, and the discussion window feels like a widget, not an integral part of the sites it's on. Tangler is working on "white label" versions as well as APIs, which should give publishers more flexibility.
Other options: CoComment and Satisfaction
There are other ways to handle discussion overload. CoComment (review), for example, is designed to work alongside existing community feedback systems and keep track of all your discussions. That's harder to do--it requires technology that can intercept data going to various blogs--but it does not require that the blog publishers make any changes. (CoComment has some technical issues, unfortunately, and if you're curious about it, I recommend waiting a while so the team can make it faster and more reliable.)
Other services, like the upcoming Satisfaction (review), are also trying to help users manage their community feedback. Satisfaction has a unique focus on consumer-to-consumer customer support, but the idea is similar: Give site managers a tool for adding community, and give users a place to collate all the community activity they're engaged in.
More established community companies like Jive Software (CNET is a customer) continue to make ever more capable community products for site managers, without trying to skim their users' eyeballs and pop them over to their own site. One might say that the Jive model is more publisher-friendly. As a publisher, I really want my community to be mine, after all.
But I believe we will discover that the newer model is more powerful. As I said, media is fragmenting and so is our attention. From my perspective as a just another Web user (Excepting Webware, I read a lot and comment a little), having one place to track all my discussions would be a big help, and it would likely encourage me to visit even more frequently the sites and blogs I engage with.
Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe. 
Either way, the idea of a distributed conversation like this is just plain cool. Can't wait to see how it pans out.
We are more squarely focused as a different take on forums, not trying to rub shoulders with Vibe but trying to add something to the menu.
We can be embedded in blogs like our examples (http://blog.martinjwells.com/ ) but this is more like sharing a YouTube video than a comment replacement. Cocomment is quite different and they do a good job with existing comments (I saw them at the TechCrunch party)
It's a big space and my feeling is the more ways to talk about stuff the better. (insert virtual hug)
Mick from Tangler
We are more squarely focused as a different take on forums, not trying to rub shoulders with Vibe but trying to add something to the menu.
We can be embedded in blogs like our examples (http://blog.martinjwells.com/ ) but this is more like sharing a YouTube video than a comment replacement. Cocomment is quite different and they do a good job with existing comments (I saw them at the TechCrunch party)
It's a big space and my feeling is the more ways to talk about stuff the better. (insert virtual hug)
Mick from Tangler
Ok, I hear you. But I don't like that direction. Do we really need another feedback/community system? We've already got talkback. Many sites also have forums. And now this? Why can't we find one good way to integrate them?
-Rafe
- coComment V2 Update on UI
- by ksera August 3, 2007 11:10 AM PDT
- Ok, we got the message from few of you with comments about the interface, etc. We have, today, made a change to the system so that we retain the advantages of the new (cleaner interface, more functionality) with the simplicity and extensibility of the old Conversation Tracking. Let us know what you think please. Thanks! Kristina (feel free to r-mail me at kristina@cocomment.com)
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