The 6 Best Social Media Plugins for WordPress | 2 | WebReference

The 6 Best Social Media Plugins for WordPress | 2


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The 6 Best Social Media Plugins for WordPress [con't]

5. Facebook Social Widgets

This plugin is a bit like a Swiss Army Knife. It has a whole set of Facebook tools such a the Like and Recommendation buttons, the single sign-on for comments, and many more offerings. As these tools are hosted and provided by Facebook, the widgets are personalized for all users who are logged into Facebook -- even if the users haven't yet signed up for your site. As a result, the plugin provides total integration with Facebook.

The Like and Recommend buttons allow readers to share a post with their social circle, the Like Box widget creates a button on your website that allows users to add your blog's FaceBook Page to the list of pages they Like, while the Activity Feed allows your readers to view the activity of their social circle on your website.

The two features of this plugin that I really like are the single sign-on with Facebook, which allows readers to leave comments with their Facebook login, and the Live Stream. The Live Stream plugin lets your readers share their activities and comments in real-time as they interact during a live event, which is a great way to have interactivity.

6. Intense Debate Comments

The Intense Debate Comments, as the name suggests, is a plugin that allows your readers to get involved in your stories and articles. They can start a conversation by adding comments to your posts. What makes this plugin very useful is that it allows -- and even encourages -- users to participate by allowing them to following up on a comment-based conversation, even by posting email and sending them updates. It also has great Twitter integration, allowing users to post via Twitter if they like.

Don't worry, before the conversations get too heated you can moderate them. Intense Debate Comments has a great moderation interface. Comments make for traffic and can also help with your search engine optimization efforts.

Original: November 22, 2010


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