Backtype Brings Your Comments Back to Life

A service getting a lot of attention lately is Backtype. Some people think of Backtype as a competitor to blog commenting systems like Disqus and Intense Debate, but this is just not the case. Daniel at Disqus made it pretty clear:

Backtype is a different service altogether. We know the Backtype guys well and think they provide something very complimentary to what we do. – Daniel @ Disqus

What is Backtype?

Backtype is not a commenting system. Backtype does not compete with Disqus or Intense Debate. What’s really going on is more of a “co-opetition“. While Disqus and Intense Debate allow you to create comments on a blog, Backtype is strictly for finding, following, and sharing those comments. It goes out into the blogosphere and grabs all the comments you have made, then brings them all back into one clean interface.

What’s the Point?

Backtype is more geared to those of us that read and comment on blogs. Most tools in this space are for actual bloggers, so this is a welcome change. Once you have an account, you search for your friends. Following your friends will allow you to see where they’re commenting and possibly lead you to new content by direct referral.

Your friends don’t even need an account in order for you to follow them as Backtype indexes their comments anyway. Simply search for their name or URL. This would probably be a good time to tell them to sign up so they can claim those comments.

Not only can you follow the comments from individuals, but you can create Alerts. These let you track specific keywords that interest you. Backtype will pick out comments involving those topics for you to browse later and share.

Backtype definitely looks like it will be useful for anyone serious about their content and comments. It keeps all your comments in one place, allowing you to follow and share them easily. It even grabs your comments from sites like Digg and Reddit. It’s also a great way to find content you will probably be interested in. Just follow your friends and see where they’re saying and where they’re saying it.

You can see my Backtype profile here. You may also want to find people like Wayne Sutton or just take a look at the most followed people. If you’re not already on Backtype, take a look at it. Either way, post your Backtype profile link in the comments.