'Net Features : forum software

Nothing Vanilla about this Blog Commenting System

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:49:00 GMT

It’s common for different software systems to not always work well with one another. When they do, it merits a mention.

Vanilla Forums just announced the availability of a new commenting feature that enables publishers to use the forum software to power blog comments. And if you've ever run a blog and a forum, I bet you'll think that's pretty cool (and it is).

Here's how it works: when articles are published on a website, through Wordpress for example - but it can work on any site, a new discussion thread is created automatically in the forum. Commenters can then participate in the conversation and any comment they post to the blog or to the forum thread will be displayed in both digital locales simultaneously.

Other interesting features of Vanilla Comments include single sign one (SSO), and the same gamification, reputation and moderation featured found in Vanilla forum powered communities. The solution is available only to Vanilla’s hosted customers on plans that start at $49 per month.

“It takes a lot of effort to get an active, vibrant community off the ground,” according to Vanilla Forums co-founder Mark O’Sullivan. “Vanilla Comments let you use existing content and traffic to seed a community forum and really engage the readership. Using Vanilla to power both comments and the forum lets members have one identity, one reputation and one user experience on all sections of the website.”

Forum Software vBulletin Integrates with Facebook

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:30:00 GMT

Forums are Dead! Long Live Forums!

Forums were the original social media destinations. Before Facebook and Twitter, topic-focused forums were everywhere and were an integral part of getting the word out about a product or service and interacting with others including prospective customers.

With the rise of social media however, forums have for the most part simply fallen out of vogue. The most savvy vendors of forum software however are building applications which integrate with the new iteration of social media sites including Facebook. Case in point, leading forum software vBulletin (a product WM recommends and which was mentioned in some detail on my book Web 360) has just released a customizable Facebook application that allows vBullletin forum operators to engage existing members and attract new ones on Facebook.

Community members on forums with the application activated are able to interact with the forum while logged into Facebook, and new "discover" and "explore" tabs provide content recommendations to members that analyzes interests and connections of users on Facebook. Members on vBulletin platforms can also showcase their forum activity on Facebook itself.

"Facebook is an amazing ecosystem and is a hub of social online activity for over 800 million people," said Joe Rosenblum, chief technology officer at Internet Brands, the parent company of vBulletin. "Our customers have been asking us for a solution that gets their forums in front of their members while they're on Facebook in an easy, organic way. We developed this application in direct response to these requests."

Zoho Discussions Arrives... In a Very Big Way

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:25:00 GMT

Zoho might just be the most interesting software/technology company around today - and it's only getting better. In addition to its already deep suite of productivity, collaboration and business applications, Zoho just launched Zoho Discussions.

Introduced to the market today, Zoho Discussions is software for enabling businesses and organizations to create internal and external communities - you might know that as forums. We're taking a closer look at the platform today for an upcoming issue but highlights of Zoho Discussions include:

- Community Engagement. Businesses and organizations keep their users coming back through the use of familiar social networking features such as profiles, integrated chat, private messages among users, user labels and more.

- Content Discoverability. Content stored in communities created with Zoho Discussions is easy to find through the integrated advanced search, custom organization, as well as RSS/Secure RSS subscription options and SEO.

- Branding. Zoho Discussions allows businesses to remain in control of their brand and the user experience they provide to customers through custom URLs, branding options and elements, customizable look and feel, even including full rebranding (white labeling) options.

- Topic Administration. Allows community moderators to manage the lifecycle of posts and discussions. For example, depending on the topics enabled, community users will be able to vote on an idea or select the most popular solution for a problem.

The Zoho Discussions forum software (SaaS) is available in a free version, but paid plans starting at $25 per month (for an unlimited number of users) are also available.

“We want to provide our customers with the relevant applications they need to run their businesses,” said Raju Vegesna, Zoho evangelist. “Zoho Discussions is another piece of that puzzle. It’s a key application that customers can easily include in their website to create a natural spot where customers gather to exchange ideas and experiences, support each other and provide feedback to the company. For example, Zoho Discussions has been powering our own Community site, forums.zoho.com, that we use to stay in close contact with customers, partners and our own teams. So, we’ve seen how effective this form of interaction can be.”

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Free Version of Active Forums Now Available

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:40:00 GMT

Active Modules announced the release of two new editions of its popular Active Forums software: Active Forums Lite and Active Forums Express.

Active Forums Express and Lite will include all key features genuine to Active Forums, but Active Forums Lite will be available for free while Express is available for $49.95. Active Forums Lite will allow all users of DotNetNuke to experience the benefits of a complete forum module. Customers can enhance their websites for free with the Lite version and easily upgrade to Express, Standard, Professional or Enterprise version if needed.

All other versions will remain the same price. Standard, Professional, and Enterprise features have been updated to include unlimited portals, extended support features and increased discounts on additional licenses.