Increase User Engagement And Comments With Highlighter WP Plugin

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Just found out about Highlighter some minutes ago via a comment left on Kikolani’s recent blog post about comment moderation. The comment which reads (see below), prompted my attention, and since I am a very curious about all things WordPress, I had to check it out for myself.

I’ve recently come across a new kind of comment system, Highlighter, http://highlighter.com/

Its very new, but transforms your commenting system into a social media, and newsletter building tool. I’ve installed it on my blog yesterday and seeing how it transform the engagement on my blog.

Now if you noticed on the comment, it says that it transforms your commenting system into a social media and newsletter building tool (list). Now you know why I jumped over there and see what it is all about.

There, I watched a video demonstration (below) that took less than 2 minutes to convince me to take HighLighter immediately for a test drive. As with all WordPress plugins tools, I normally test it first on other websites before putting it live here. Within less than 10 minutes, I had this baby up and running on another website (WordPress Theme Framework), just to see how it works..

After installing HighLighter WordPress plugin, I left a test comment and this is how it looks.

HighLighter_commenting_system

Anyway, and 30 minutes later I am writing this post :). Since I am very new to this tool, I will highlight some of the key features that the developers themselves have to say. I think it is self explanatory.

Increased engagement.

Highlighter allows you and your readers to highlight any word, sentence, paragraph, or image and then comment or share on that highlight. Put simply, highlight and then share or comment! This means that you’ll capture more social sharing and more conversation, which in turn enriches your site’s experience!

View all of the highlights in one centralized location

We understand that most web users are accustomed to commenting at the end of a post or page they are reading. To merge the experience, we’ve created the Highlight Box. The Highlight Box brings all of the conversation together in a familiar format!

Engage with your readers over a word, sentence, paragraph or image!

The goal of the plugin is to help you increase your site’s user experience, and we guarantee that you will get a TON more feedback and sharing activity once you install Highlighter. What are you waiting for?

And a little more. Whether this tool actually deliver and increase your user engagement is left to be seen, but I think that it has potential. Maybe it can even increase your websites traffic and within the process your online business, just like the recent changes in FaceBook, where you can put to better use the new Facebook Fan Page Photos, section. Obviously, I can think of other benefits by using this tool (e.g. increasing your optin subscribers list), but I will leave that for later. Right now, I just wanted you to know about HighLighter as I simply liked the plugin. This is not a paid post or an affiliate link as HighLighter is free. YES, you heard that right…free.

So, have you heard about this WordPress Plugin yet? Either way, let me now what you think about it. Do you think that it can actually increase your user engagement?

DiTesco

DiTesco is a Business and Inbound Marketing Consultant, and founder of iBlogzone.com. iBlogzone's main objective is to help startups and small business owners achieve success in their online ventures. | More About Me and my Digital Marketing Services in SP Brazil.

42 thoughts on “Increase User Engagement And Comments With Highlighter WP Plugin”

  • I am very curious about the plugin and will be looking at it, this may remove spammers who aren’t likely to gain a dofollow link to their own URL and will help allow true interaction with readers.

    • Hi Justin. Yeah, if there is anyone who will be looking into this plugin in more depth, that will be most definitely you, lol. I would love to have your feedback once you take it for a test drive. Thanks for stopping by

    • Justin, I thought you still maintain Dofollow status on your blog – are you looking into getting rid of it?

      • No, I believe in DoFollow, KeyWordLuv, CommentLuv and will always support it. It is abused however and I would like to see if this provides more or better two way interaction.

        • Makes sense.

          On my blog, I use Prelovac’s plugin SEO Super Comments; it’s still dofollow, but it creates dynamin (indexable, I might add) pages for each commentator, so they get one Dofollow link out of my blog instead of dozens.

          I think it works well for both parties and my comment level hasn’t gone down since I started using it.

          • Very interesting, I went to see how it worked. It turns the user link to a separate CID page and then they get the dofollow link from there. I like that it shows all their other comments on other posts, if you want to see other user’s comments. I haven’t seen this plugin on other blogs, have you had any feedback from commenters on it?

            • I had some disgruntled link building (surprise), but once I wrote a post explaining what the plugin does, no one minds.

  • I haven’t heard of this plugin, and it does sound like a interesting plugin, albeit unique. The question is, how many visitors would actually know what they can do with the highlighter, is it easy to understand? I guess the highlight box will probably help in that area.

    • Hi Paul. I hear you and I think the “highlight” box is there for that purpose. You can remove it though and if the readers do read fully your post, they will eventually see it right before your normal “comment” box as it will showing itself off 🙂

  • Nice video explanation! I think I saw this on a blog I was visiting earlier today and had no clue why part of the post was highlighted. As soon as I remember what blog that was, I’ll have to go back and check out the functionality again. Thanks! 🙂

    • Hi Kristi. I’m sure you have seen it and will most likely discover where it is 🙂 Anyway, I would not have fund about this if I did not pay attention to the comments in your recent post. So to show you that comments can be very valuable and one should never ignore its power. Thanks for visiting and have a nice day

  • Not heard of this plugin before and have not visited a blog that is using it. But it sure does look interesting. I might just have to give it a try.

    Thanks for showing the plugin! 🙂

    • Hi Phil. Just head over to the website of the plugin’s developer and visit their blog. You will see it there in action.

  • Sweet find DiTesco. Looks like a new toy I’m going to have to test drive myself.

    Hmmm… I think I know the perfect place to share this. 😉

    Thanks for the recommendation. I think I’m going to really enjoy this one.

    • HI Michele. Yep, new toy indeed and if I am not mistaken, it is already there 😉 Well you can always give it a thumbs up, lol. Anyway, after you install the plugin, let me know how it goes for you. Testing it on a different website just to see how it goes. I ma pretty sure though that it will soon be here..

  • Sounds interesting, but I don’t see if on this site.
    Was this a guest post and the author is running it on that site?
    I’d love to see some blogs using this so I could give it a test run as a reader.

    • Hi Jason. Wow, too many questions, lol. You don’t see it here because I installed it on a different blog. But if you want to see it in action, visit the blog of the plugin’s developer ans you’ll see it there.

  • I’m very interested in this new plug-in. I need something interesting to happen to boost commenting on my blog. Maybe Highlighter is the answer. Thanks for finding it and taking the time to share it with us 🙂

    • Hi Cheryl. If Highlighter will be the answer, I would not be able to tell right now, but it certanily looks very promising. Hopefully it will provide you with the results you are looking for. Let me know if it does 🙂 Thanks for visiting and have a nice day

  • Seems like a really great plugin. Is there a reason you are not using it here?

    How does it affect the existing WP commenting system, does it remove it, like Livefyre and Disqus?

    I love the idea but still wanna keep my regular commenting section and allow comment luv links

    • Hi Brankica. Wow, “muito” questions, lol. OK, I am not using it here (yet) as I am testing it on another website. As far as I can tell, no it does not affect the normal WordPress commenting system and ComLuv. It works independent of those. It is no where close to Disqus, ID or any similar system, as it does not replace your current commenting system. If you want to take a look at it in action, please visit this post, where I have added a test comment: http://www.wordpressthemeframework.com/2011/02/blogger-stlye-free-wordpress-theme-by-wootheme/

      Still figuring things out and once I have it mastered, I will install it here 🙂 If you do try it, let me know what you think of it. Thanks for stopping by. Really appreciate it.

  • Hi DiTesco

    Will be interested in the answers you give to Brankica. Some I was going to ask myself.

    With anything new I tend to wait and hear feedback from the more techie amongst us lol

    Thanks for sharing this with us DiTesco. Appreciated.

    • Hi Patricia. I too share the same concerns as Brankica had, reason why I am taking it for a test drive before anything else. Maybe I am in a certain advantage as I can use it on other sites before, 🙂 Anyway, I have already replied to Brankica so that should give you an idea. Thanks for stopping by.

  • Hi DiTesco,

    I have actually tried this out when it was first released. It’s an interesting plugin. The reason why i take it off is not many people know about this plugin. It’s also contradicting the traditional comment system.

    The main interesting part of this plugin is you can highlight any sentence and comment in it. It’s great for social engagement. We just need to change peoples mindset in using it.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Lye

    • Hi Lye. I can see why you say that it contradicts the traditional commenting system and in a way it might, although I think that it really depends ultimately on the users point of view and needs. I particularly like the idea that it works just like a normal commenting system only with a twist. Also, you can moderate the comments too:)

      As for letting people know about it, the plugin has an option of showing a bar when people scroll down and they can see some “small” instructions. Anyway, still test driving it and will see how it goes. Thanks for stopping by.

  • is this activated on your blog?

    • Hi Sandy. This pugin is not yet activated here and I am testing it on another website as mentioned above. See response I gave @brankica. Soon I will, and if you do use it, I would love to have your feedback about it.

      • yeah – ill try this out soon and let you know the results..

  • Hi DiTesco,
    Nice find! I am going to try out this plugin and see how it works. Saw the plugin in use at the developer’s blog. It seems good at first look.

    • Hi Shree. Good to know that you head over the developer’s blog to find out more about the plugin. That is always a wise move 😉 Should you decide to give it a go, please let me know how it goes.

  • Had a look at the plugin earlier but did not pay much attention to it as it was when i was sorting out the change over to Thesis will take another look at it it seems brilliant

    • Hi Gary. Good to hear from you. The plugin as you say sounds very promising and I did not wait until I shared it here with everyone, despite not having fully tested it myself. Anyway, if you do take it out for a spin, I would love to hear your feedback as it will help to provide more info for the follow-up post. Thanks for stopping by.

  • Of course, I haven’t checked out all the comments above, but the most obvious question from me would be – so…. you didn’t like it enough to use on your blog here?

    Also, have you heard of livefyre.com? It can turn your comments into a forum-type environment.

    Ana

    • Hi Ana. Looks like it has been a common question from everyone…. I can not say right now that I love it enough to use it here, but I do love the idea and the concept behind it… I am not sure but I had the impression that I did say that “i like to test it first” before … and that was one day ago, lol.

      As for livefyre, I did hear something about it, but really did not pursue anything about it. Also, and unless I am mistaken, I think it “replaces” the normal commenting system of WP. Did I get this right?

      • Yes, that one does replace WP commenting system.

        So what do you mean by testing it first; doesn’t it mean that you actually use it on your blog? Or are you using it elsewhere to see how it works?

        • OK then, that might have been the reason why I did not pay too much attention before about it. I did not have a good experience with JS-Kit and Intense Debate so…

          And Yes, I am using the plugin elsewhere, to see how it works. See link @brankica

  • Hi DiTesco,
    I have been hearing a lot and seeing a lot of blogs starting to use this plugin. Seems you have not started using it yet in your blog. I was too thinking of testing it out but was wondering about the amount of server resources it takes up since I am on a shared host which will certainly not be able to support a lot of resource usage. Maybe I will try it out in any demo installation to check it if is resource hogger or not.

    Regards,
    Shiva

    • Hi Shiva. That is something that slipped by me, server resources. Like you said, you should try to first give it a test drive and see how it plays in all aspects that you are concerned about. The website I am currently testing the plugin is also on shared hosting and up to now, I have not noticed any variation. Then again, the traffic although good is not “heavy”, so don’t take my word that it won’t consume resources. Nothing better than trying it out and see if it works for you. Thanks for stopping by.

  • You highlight something and comment on what you lit?

    • Something like that, yes Dennis. The idea is that sometimes we wnat to comment on something specific that an author has mentioned and instead of “quoting” a word or sentence you highlight it and write a comment.

  • Thank yo for sharing.
    With this plugin, it is more convenient for visitors to join the comment conversation, whick can make a blog/site more socialized.
    I will have a try. Thanks again. 🙂 🙂

  • Thanks so much DiTesco for sharing this valuable plugin. I’m not sure whether or not it will truly increase engagement but I’m all for any plugin that moves blog readers towards that goal. Like Shiva said though I’m interested in finding out the toll this plugin takes on servers.

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