Taking a cue from Twitter, Disqus is finally rolling out a feature to the masses which may not only help increase user engagement, but help the startup edge out rivals like IntenseDebate.
We’ve come across so many comments in Disqus that are hilarious, insightful, or just fascinating to read. Now you can follow the comedians, experts, and storytellers on Disqus. After you choose to follow someone, his or her activity will show up in your dashboard activity stream. (Use the “Context” button to get the full conversation!)
Like many people, we enjoy following people on Twitter. Twitter lets you stay current with the thoughts and actions of people you find interesting. Similarly, following people on Disqus means that you’re subscribed to their conversations and recommendations as they read and discuss topics online. (Official Disqus Blog)
Truth be told IntenseDebate (a service by Automattic, the company behind WP.com) already had the “follow feature” months (if not years) ago, although as far as I can tell it does not seem to be a heavily utilized feature.
Disqus on the other hand seems to have a far more active community who may use Disqus’s follow feature as a way to gage which individuals have the most influence within the Disqus universe.
The startup is also planning on rolling out a recommended users list which is based off of your Twitter friends, and plans on rolling out support for Facebook as well (provided the social networking giant is cool with it that is).
