Tag Archives: social media technology

Pluck adds new features to social media technology

Social media firm Pluck has developed a new version of its SiteLife platform – the technology currently employed by Hearst Digital and USA Today to ramp up interactive features for users.

According to a press release, the new version (3.3) offers improved search engine optimisation to make content such as comments on news articles and forums more open to search engines.

It also gives more options for publishers when managing online communities.

Pluck’s technology, which handles user comments, ratings, recommendations, image and video sharing, forums, blogs and creates social network-style profiles for users, was recently implemented by the Guardian’s Comment is Free section.

Guardian implements Pluck on Comment Is Free platform

The Guardian has redesigned its Comment Is Free (CiF) section as part of a new online community platform for the paper.

It has been integrated with the paper’s main site eradicating the divide between online and print comment, Georgina Henry, head of comment, has written in a blog post.

Changes to the design include:

  • A longer front page – so articles are present for longer
  • Print and web comment will be published side-by-side
  • Features for recommending posts, seeing what others are reading and offering feedback on the section, have been introduced
  • Sub-sites, which bring comments on topics together, have been added, with plans to develop these into individually edited areas
  • The implementation of Pluck’s social media technology has added:

  • More access to writers’ profiles and an archive of their comments – this archive will eventually be extended to comments left on any part of Guardian.co.uk
  • Improved signing in process for leaving comments
  • Moderators or Guardian staff participating in a comment thread will be highlighted with an M or G symbol
  • Comments will now be shown in pages of 50 not 10 with the time limit for leaving comments extended to 48 hours
  • The redesign is part of the paper’s ongoing overhaul of its website.