BlogCatalog Implements SezWho Comment Tracking Platform

Once just a listing of blogs, BlogCatalog has slowly grown over the past year into more of a social network for bloggers with more than 100,000 members. Today, users of the BlogCatalog service will find the ability to easily download a customized version of the SezWho comment tracking plug-in for their blogs.

After signing up for SezWho, BlogCatalog members are provided a link via email where they can download and install the special plugin. Through the collaboration of the two services, member blogs within BlogCatalog will gain the ability to provide comment ratings and comment filtering. When one BlogCatalog member leaves a comment on another BlogCatalog member blog, their BlogCatalog avatar (with a profile link) is displayed, which allows the ability to view a contributor's commentary across a wide directory of blogs.

"SezWho promotes conversations and also gives readers the ability to promote relevant content and expertise to enhance community participation and also strengthen online reputations," mentioned Jitendra Gupta, CEO and Founder of SezWho.  "By aligning with BlogCatalog, individual bloggers will have the ability to supercharge their comments section, and more importantly, escalate the presence of the very people who help define the community."

As a blogger, I have personally liked the idea of SezWho since its launch last June, because its promotes discussion by making the comment process more universal. With several blogs using the "NOFOLLOW" attribute, some readers feel discouraged from leaving their thoughts for lack of credit (i.e.: a link back to their blog).

"BlogCatalog members have been asking for tools and features that add value to their blogs," stated Antony Berkman, president of BlogCatalog. "By partnering with SezWho, we were able to seamlessly connect [our members] to a comment ranking service that increases their exposure on SezWho-enabled blogs, strengthens the individual blogger's network, and provides some of our members an option to add this feature to their blogs. We like SezWho because it encourages comments, which is something many bloggers value."

This is an interesting alliance in the blogosphere, but what will be most interesting to see is how the addition of the comment tracking platform will affect the traffic of BlogCatalog member blogs. More discussion, whether it's positive or negative, should hopefully help attract a larger audience, right?