Blogger: Add Twitter and Facebook Comments

Due to an Upcoming change by Twitter in their API, Twitter comments will cease to function sometime early in 2013 at the latest. Unfortunately, this cannot be fixed reasonably and no further support will be available. I hope everyone that's used my script over the past year and a half has enjoyed it, but regretfully Twitter is no longer friendly to this type of usage and I've ceased development for their service.

Twitter and Facebook have come to dominate social media in the past few years. Although many other services exist, these two have grown to mammoth proportions dwarfing most others. As such there's a fair chance your blog readers have an account with one or both, though they may not have an account compatible with Blogger comments. In order to increase interactivity of your blog, wouldn't it be nice to broaden your reach by utilizing these two social titans?

In this post I detail how to implement both Twitter and Facebook comments into each blog post along side Bloggers own comment system. This tutorial results in comments which look and function exactly as those active on this blog at the time of publication. End result being a three tab paged comments section with active counts for the number of comments under each for the page.

Blogger: Add Facebook Comments Count to Post Footers

Reflect All Comments in your Main Page Post Footers
A couple of weeks ago I posted a walk through to add Facebook Comments to your blog along side Blogger comments. This gives visitors two commenting options and the opportunity to increase reader feedback by using the most popular social network on Earth. Just today one of my own readers requested a feature I had not even considered. He'd like to include a Facebook Comments count with each post on the main page. Sounds like a nice feature to me so I set out to implement this request.

Placement and Branding Comments
This tutorial assumes you're using my Facebook Comments tabbed setup already and is constructed to use show both counts side by side with the same tab icons each service provides. Bear in mind this modification nearly triples the width the comment count footer requires, so make sure to leave plenty of room on the footer line for best effect. Adjust the footer position for the comment count by editing the Blog widget under Design->Layout until you're satisfied this modification has sufficient space. Note: if you've customized your Blog template this likely will fail and you'll need to alter the code manually in Edit HTML mode.

Blogger: How to Add the Facebook Comments Box

Expand your reach with the Facebook Comments Box 
Comments are an integral method of interacting with visitors in a meaningful way. They are an opportunity to engage in productive conversations and build new relationships. You want to be accessible, but the ever present problem of comment spammers must be dealt with. In order to avoid Anonymous spammers, setting your blog to Registered users is helpful. Unfortunately, a good number of visitors may not have the required account.

The Facebook comments box is a convenient way to expand comment accessibility. Facebook has the largest base of users in the world and their reach continues to grow. Chances are readers have either a Facebook account or one Blogger accepts. In this article, I'll show you how to add Facebook comments along side Bloggers built in system.

Blogger: Add a Facebook Like Button to Posts

Get more social with One click sharing to Facebook 
Facebook recently upgraded the functionality of several developer plug-ins. These new scripts are a snap to include and function very smoothly for visitors. No need to manage authentication or ask a user to log in, Facebook handles everything in convenient IFrames. Any reader with an active Facebook account need just visit your site and they have access to several nice features.

The Like button has long been a means of showing approval for interesting content. Facebook recently upgraded the functionality to include well constructed wall posts similar to a shared link. The page title, address, a thumbnail and brief snippet of text are included. As a Blogger this is a great opportunity to unobtrusively get more eyes on your content by allowing visitors convenient One click sharing.