If you’re been to RCG recently, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that I added Facebook Connect to the sidepanel. I really want to invite you all to use this feature, so I thought I’d let you know why I added it:
- I’m a Facebook addict, love the service, and enjoy connecting with others. I’m thinking there’s at least a few other RCG community members who would enjoy connecting via the service
- I’ve been looking for a way to give a “carrot” to folks who properly identify themselves when they leave comments. I don’t want to “punish” anonymous commenters, I just want to give a bonus to those who aren’t anonymous.
The carrot we’re now offering is two-fold:
- Your comment will bypass almost all of the moderation filters that occasionally slow down a comment from showing up immediately on the site.
- Your profile link will be of the “dofollow” variety.
For most of the folks in the RCG community, I’m positive you’re here because you love the conversation and could care less about the positive link luv RCG can give you. Nonetheless, if you’re willing to identify yourself with your “real” identity, then these two things are just two small carrots we’re now offering…
So, please consider taking advantage by clicking on the “Connect with Facebook” button to the right and follow the simple instructions. As a bonus, after you “connect”, you’ll be able to update your profile on RCG with a few additional fields that will make it easier than ever to connect with others from the RCG community.
And finally, I launched FB Connect on the site despite the fact that I’m not 100% happy with it yet. Here are some problems I’ve found and/or things I’m working on:
- FB Connect plays funny (or doesn’t play at all!) with early versions of Internet Explorer, (especially IE 6.0 and below). This might sound harsh, but my solution is to beg for you to get and use Firefox (or even Chrome), but if you’re not willing to do that, at least get the latest version of IE
- The feature that let’s you “add your comment to your Facebook feed” was giving some folks some problems, so I disabled it. I really like the idea of this feature, so I’ll work on troubleshooting exactly what was causing problems, although I think it had something to do with old versions of IE (see previous comment!).
- I really want the avatar that shows up next to users to default to the “gravatar” instead of the FB avatar. My thought here is that many folks have a “fun” avatar on Facebook, but might prefer to have a more consistent avatar on a business site like RCG. I spent some time trying to get this work and while I made some progress, it’s still not working well enough for me to feel comfortable launching… but hopefully soon.
I have a feeling there’s going to be lots more to come in terms of taking advantage of Facebook tools within RCG in the future. Hopefully, you’ll play along and if there is something that doesn’t appear to be working right or a feature you’d like to see, please let me know!
I am a FB addict as well. The first thing I do when I get up is check FB, I know lame, lol. We have been debating on adding Facebook Connect or Google Connect to the new WannaNetwork.com. We are leaning towards Facebook Connect.
Definitely worth signing up, better than Active Rain in my opinion.
Tony: What you say makes total sense! 😉 I haven’t seen any real benefit to Google Connect besides it being a MyBlogLog replacement, so it didn’t ever interest me that much. However, for me, FB Connect has a ton more potential, but the flip side is that it is MUCH more challenging to install. You’ve got to sign up for a developers key and then, most likely, edit a bunch of theme files to get it to work right on a blog. Nonetheless, the integration is one of the reasons it has so much potential.
By the way, you also might have noticed that I decided to hedge my bets a little in terms of social networking tools. I also added the a plugin that lets you link your profile to your twitter account. All you have to do to have a link to your twitter account next to your name on your comments is to simply use the same email for both your twitter account and your comments here on RCG.
Dustin, I love these upgrades you’ve done to RCG 🙂
BTW…it seems like I have to log out and log back in to be recognized as a recent visitor?
I did notice that one has to login and show up as a recent visitor.
I didn’t worry too much about this because I didn’t put the tool on the site as a “tracking tool” in the same way that mybloglog is used. I think my preference would be to simply change the messaging so that the tool said something like “RCG Community Members” instead of “Last Visitors” (Last visitors sounds kind of morbid to me anyway!)…
and I think it would be even better if it showed folks “randomly” but started with your existing “friends” from facebook. I don’t think that would be too hard considering the “RCG Community” page already shows folks who are members of RCG & your community. Hmmmm
I have been busy inviting my friends… Di Kawell has been like a kid in a candy store visiting here at RCG. 🙂 She’s a long time friend and fairly new to blogging.
Like this better than mybloglog, which seems to have lost traction in terms of “community.”
Maureen: I completely agree!
I think the main problem with MyBlogLog was that you had to have a “blog” to take part. For most real estate blogs, that means that it was mostly being used by other real estate agents. I really like that Facebook Connect has a ton more potential to engage members of the local community.
This is the first site I have found that is using Facebook Connect in such a rich and meaningful way. I’ve come to expect nothing less than ground breaking, original, and early adoption from Dustin! This can easily connect realtors to potential clients’ normal lives (or as normal as a client’s FB page is ;).
(BTW, love the Twitter ID add)
Wow Chad! Thanks so much! I only wish I was a faster coder because I have a few more ideas I’d love to be able to implement. 🙂
I forget I keep java scripting turned off in FF. Couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t seeing the join button! Thanks for the invite on the other, Dustin.
I love the Facebook Connect option. As mentioned earlier, It took a little time to install but no really problems. The feature I love the most is that readers are able to comment. Many area buyers have seen ny Facebook advertising, looked up my facebook page, and found the blog. Dustin, you are the man!!! Thanks
Charles and Todd: I’m glad you both like the tool, but I want to see you guys use it! LOL! Trying signing in and then we’ll get to see your FB profile photos when you leave a comment! 😉
I don’t know Dustin. Isn’t it better for agents and lender types if the link in their name goes to their business website, instead of their Facebook page? Doesn’t seem very professional, and I can’t tell as much about them by clicking on their name in the comment. I think it would be bad for business they might get from commenting.
I dont’ think it’s an improvement for professionals. Non-industry commenters maybe, but not agents and lenders and such.
Haven’t followed the thread, so maybe someone already mentioned this. I noticed an agent commenting on one of my posts. At first the link went to her website and I could see which company she worked for, and what area she worked in. Then she started coming through Facebook, and I couldn’t tell anything about her without going to her Facebook profile…most won’t bother clicking through the Facebook to find that profile. I wouldn’t.
I just clicked on Chad, and I had to sign into Facebook to see anything about him. Not everyone uses Facebook. Defeats some of the purpose of commenting on other blogs, if some can’t tell who you are.
Ardell: I completely agree that most people would want the link going to their website instead of their FB profile.
If you take the chance one of these days and click the “connect with facebook” button, you’ll find that your link DOES go to your website (and not to your facebook profile) because that information is already filled in on your RCG profile.
For all non-rcg contributors, if you want a link back to your website instead of your FB profile, you only have to edit you profile to add the appropriate link. After you do that once, you’ll never have to fill in your name, email, URL on RCG again!
Note: there will also be a spot where you can add a description about yourself so RCG readers can learn more about you (here’s mine for example).
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