Facebook Comments Vs Disqus: Which Is Better?

by 80 Comments

In one corner, weighing in at 600 million plus users is the social behemoth known as Facebook, a Jedi Master when it comes to all things social, but a novice when it comes to the commenting arena.

In the other corner is Disqus, weighing in at 35 million active users, and who currently sits as king of third party commenting systems.

Although there are other commenting systems such as Echo and IntenseDebate (the latter which is owned by Automattic), I’m coming across more sites and blogs adopting either Disqus or Facebook comments so for now I’ll focus on these two titans.

Since both services have advantages as well as disadvantages against each other, we’ve decided to put each through 7 rounds to see which service is more suitable for your site.

Threaded Comments

Both Disqus and Facebook offer bloggers threaded comments, which in today’s world is necessary in order to help organize conversations and prevent confusion from breaking out between discussions.

As a bonus, both offer multiple threaded conversations, allowing readers to reply to those replying to them (a feature Facebook comments recently adopted.

Disqus: 1, Facebook Comments: 1

@Mentions

The ability to add other users to the conversation is a killer feature that is lacking in most third party commenting systems.

Fortunately both Disqus and Facebook offer bloggers and webmasters the ability to contact friends or followers albeit using different methods.

Disqus allows readers to mention fellow Disqus users or tweeple (or twitter users) while Facebook only allows you to mention fellow Facebook friends or fan pages.

Although Facebook has more users, the @Mentions feature is only limited to your circle of friends while Disqus (who lacks Facebook access) allows you to contact any tweeter or Disqus buddy.

Disqus: 2, Facebook Comments: 1

Analytics On The Go

The social networking giant and the commenting king both provide analytics for bloggers and webmasters in order to help them understand just who is commenting and liking posts upon their blog.

While Disqus analytics provides in depth analysis of where your users are coming from, it’s offered as a premium service that starts at $19/month.

Facebook on the other hand offers their analytical services for free, although even if price were not an issue, the social giant is able to provide greater demographics  (such as age, gender and primary language).

Disqus: 2, Facebook Comments: 2

Spam/Troll Unfriendly

With commenting spam on the rise (both robotic and humans), many bloggers have had to rely upon the “wisdom of the crowds” to alert admins of intrusive comment ads as well as vote down annoying trolls.

Although Disqus does also allow users to utilize Akismet (on top of your commenting community), human spammers are not only still sneaking, but they are also sometimes engaging your readers within the discussion (note: by their links you shall know them).

Facebook on the other hand users their social graph to weed out the spammers as well as trolls with surprising effectiveness (as Facebook limits viewership of a spammer’s comment to their circle of friends).

Disqus: 2, Facebook Comments: 3

Multiple Logins

Both Facebook and Disqus allow users to comment using accounts from other services.

However Facebook only allows readers to login using their Facebook, Yahoo! or Microsoft Live (via Hotmail) account while Disqus not only matches Facebook, but also offers Twitter and Google as extra options.

Note: Facebook would add Twitter and Google if it were not for the fact that both companies refused to embrace the social giant due to “trust” issues.

Disqus: 3, Facebook Comments: 3

Editbility

The ability to edit comments on your blog is priceless, especially when dealing with quality comments that may ere too much on the vulgar side (or post sensitive information that needs to be removed).

It’s also convenient to users who want to make minimum edits to their comments to correct grammatical errors or correct spelling mistakes.

Disqus gives both admins and readers the ability to edit comments, although Facebook only allows you to delete a comment, with no way to correct a simple spelling mistake or clarify your opinion on someone else’s site.

Disqus: 4, Facebook Comments: 3

Installation

Probably the most critical aspect of third party commenting systems is installation as messing up here will prevent one from utilizing them in the first place!

Disqus not only provides plugins, extensions and modules for self hosting fans, but also tutorials (with images!) for those using blog services like Tumblr, Blogger or even Squarespace.

Facebook on the other hand more or less leaves you in the dark, requiring third party tutorials from geeks or (if you’re lucky) an unofficial plugin.

Disqus: 5, Facebook Comments: 3

Who Do You Prefer?

Although I’m slightly biased towards Disqus (due to the fact they’re tweet friendly), other features may convince you to side with Facebook (especially if you’re a data geek who loathes spam).

For those of you out there who have chosen third party commenting systems, would you choose Facebook comments over Disqus? (or vice versa?) If so, why?

Image Credits: George Lucas and his beloved Star Wars Films

Author: Darnell Clayton

Darnell Clayton is a geek who discovered blogging long before he heard of the word “blog” (he called them “web journals” then). When he is not tweeting, Facebooking, or blogging about space and his beloved iPhone, he enjoys running, reading and describing himself in third person.

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Comments

  2. I use IntenseDebate on my blog, but if I had to choose between the two juggernauts above, I’d go with Disqus. I like the CommentLuv feature on IntenseDebate, and I prefer having a choice of colors to complement my site. But I use Disqus frequently when commenting on others’ blogs.

    One think I like about Disqus is how I can use the service under different names on different sites. For instance, on freelancing blogs, I sign into Disqus using my Twitter account. When commenting on political blogs, I sign in using my Disqus nom-de-net. Convenient and useful if you trying to avoid non-work related controversy.

    Reply

  3. Facebook comments drives a lot of traffic to your site due to the deep deep integration with Facebook graph.

    However, there’s a huge problem. 20 – 30 % of comments don’t appear – they are just lost and people are extremely frustrated about this.

    I haven’t been able to get Facebook to acknowledge this problem although I’ve made a tool that demonstrates the problem. Check this URL for an example:

    http://simulation.dk/other/fb/test.php?url=http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/05/vesak_day_2011.html

    Reply

    • Does this mean you can embed Facebook comments on your page from boston.com even if your domain is simulation.dk? I thought they don’t allow this.

      Reply

  4. No contest. Disqus. The ability to post simultaneously on Twitter and Facebook is something that Facebook is not offering right now. I get more traction on Twitter than I do Facebook anyway.

    Reply

  5. I personally prefer Disqus over Facebook comments. Facebook comments are good for bringing more traffic but that traffic will come only when the site followers use Facebook. Though many people I know don’t even use Facebook for some XYZ reasons.
    However everyone does have an email if he is online. Also twitter, google and other options disqus allows the readers to login, helps them to use any service they like.
    One option if disqus adds which potentially lets users share their comment and inherently the article on Facebook and twitter more prominently, there will not be any need to think snout any other comment plugin or service.
    Then it is about comment sync with wordpress (if you use it, and most bloggers do), disqus does sync the comments with the server but Facebook will never provide that option. So personally I don’t prefer using Facebook alone on my blog.

    Thanks for sharing them side by side though.

    Reply

  7. Disqus does it all – allowing users to log in with Facebook, Twitter, and Google. That’s pretty much fucking everybody.

    While Facebook only allows people to comment using Facebook. Let’s be honest, nobody of any value uses hotmail or aol. And that sucks. Because if they had google and twitter integration, it would be a no-brainer.

    I’ve been using disqus integration for a couple years now. And just his week I switched over to Facebook comments.

    I guess that makes Facebook the winner. But it make me sad.

    Reply

  8. It depends on the website, for instance if your website deals with an issue that people won’t want publicly posted on their Facebook feed then nobody will comment on your site (due to loss of anonymity).

    For most websites however I feel that Facebook comments is a better choice. You will get far less spam, and when people do post something they will be more inclined to make it sound somewhat intelligent as their own name will be tied to it. Even if somebody does just post a “Great post” type of comment at least their friends will see it and some may check out your site.

    Disqus is great for commenting, but it can never be used to increase traffic to your site the way Facebook comments does.

    Reply

    • Don’t a lot of people have fake Facebook accounts? Just a thought… nevertheless, there seems to be a consensus that disqus leads to more spam.

      Reply

  10. This is kind of a sidebar on EDITABILITY, but I’ve noticed that if I make a typo on Facebook while using the iPad, I can X out the comment and it allows me to go back and edit without deleting the entire comment.

    Reply

  11. Hey Darnell, do you happen to know how to count the amount of tweets made by users in my site that used Disqus to post their comments? I’d really need that metric but I can’t find any way of doing it with Disqus Analytics or API. Thanks!

    JC

    Reply

  12. Disqus shouldn’t beat out Facebook since FB is in the business of connecting users via comments, but it does. If FB added @mentions outside of a user’s circle and editing functions I may switch. Until then it’s Disqus FTW.

    Reply

  13. I’m debating this issue right now for a new site. Normally, I would say Disqus, because it’s more versatile. However, if the site has thousands of facebook fans, I think that tips the scale toward FB comments.

    Reply

  14. I just recently made the switch to Disqus. I personally like making comments with Disqus because I can in a way protect my identity by only adding certain Social Networks to it. 

    Reply

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  23. Can anyone point me to a high volume disqus powered blog?  I see to recall more high scale comment threads powered by facebook.  Can’t recall any on disqus

    Reply

  25. I’ve been using disqus integration for a couple years now. And just his week I switched over to Facebook comments.

    Reply

  29. I’ve had DIsqus installed for a couple of months and am extremely happy with the high quality of the free product thus far. The only draw I would have to Facebook is the potential for larger traffic. After all it’s what all us bloggers want. However, the ambiguity of an increase happening is not enough of a pull to make me switch over yet. Google reportedly indexing the comments may change my mind. Only time will tell.

    Reply

  30. For most websites however I feel that Facebook comments is a better choice. You will get far less spam, and when people do post something they will be more inclined to make it sound somewhat intelligent as their own name will be tied to it. Even if somebody does just post a “Great post” type of comment at least their friends will see it and some may check out your site.

    Reply

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  32. at the end, it comes down to the preference of the user/commenter, but as for Facebook comments, the only one who will be able to see the comment are those of the commentator’s friend should he/she chose to publish it on his/her wall.

    Reply

  41. After reading this, we are confused what to use.
    What I want to know is, Which has Search engine visibility ?

    Reply

  45. I’m a little skeptical with disqus. Who wants to sign up for something just to comment? If only the set for disqus was a little bit more intuitive to include facebook and twitter users. Thats’ all that matters

    Reply

  50. I can say that when it comes to commenting Facebook and and disqus have not the same. In facebook is like we can use our freedom of expression unlike in disqus that some comments will be moderated.

    Reply

  51. Which on is easier to theme? Does the Facebook plugin allow you to theme it at all?

    Reply

  55. I am on the edge in choosing. Obviously I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t in a battle between the two. Is it possible to have users login with their facebook so they can have an avitar next to them? That’s the biggest plus side. Most people are actively engaged on Facebook, therefore your site would have constant advertisement when users post to Facebook as opposed to Disqus. Naturally, having your link shown from friend to friend is very effective in gaining new viewers. I’m still learning about Disqus and this page has helped; I just need to find out how to use it with social networks. Thanks for the info.

    Reply

  58. On one hand, I like that I don’t have to log in to anything to use Disqus.
    I believe I’ve even seen pages where you don’t have to enter anything other than start typing and hit the ‘comment’ button.

    On the other hand, I like that Facebook has a much deeper reach than Disqus.

    However, I find that even if I comment on a webpage using Facebook comments, I always uncheck the ‘post to wall’ box unless I feel as though my comment comes across as very well thought out and intelligent. Otherwise, I’d prefer none of my friends seeing any menial comments.

    This is a tough choice. When using disqus, I don’t feel like I’m reaching anyone. Even if I comment on big news sites.

    But something about Facebook irks me now. I’m not sure what it is, but I wish I no longer had one. I can’t escape it though, it’s where everyone is…

    What a dilemma. I recall seeing a plugin that has a comment box and two tabs in the corner; one for Facebook and one for Disqus. I’ll likely use this, this way people can choose what medium they want with a single click.

    Reply

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  64. This post made me more confused about comment system.
    I was planning to migrate to Facebook comment system for traffic (as the comment also get published in commentators wall )

    Reply

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