Facebook to launch third party commenting platform

Social networking site Facebook plans to launch a third party commenting platform that could position the site as an engine behind the comments system on many high-profile blogs and digital publications.

Facebook is now actively seeking partnerships with media companies and blogs for launching its system after hiring Nick Grudin and Andy Mitchell as its media business development executives who have been with Newsweek and The Daily Beast respectively.

Users can use the comments system by logging into Facebook or Twitter. Users can ‘like’ comments that are threaded and these comments can be synced across a publisher’s site and Facebook page. A comment made on a publisher’s site will show up on its Facebook page and vice-versa.

“Based on feedback from developers about ways to improve our existing comments plugin, we're testing an updated plugin that leverages authenticity and social relevancy to increase distribution. We're testing the plugin on our Facebook Blog and Developer Blog but have no further details to share at this time,” a Facebook spokesperson wrote.

The new platform will allow for a deeper integration between Facebook and third party sites as already some publishers are allowing users to log into their sites using Facebook thereby enabling users to post comments.

Companies like Disqus and Echo are offering their own third party comment system successfully by streamlining maintenance issues that once took a lot of time for digital publishers.

But, the momentum of using brands on Facebook is bound to shake things out due to sheer user base of the networking site.