BackType.com is a prime example of a great idea put into action. BackType.com allows you to setup a profile, yes it’s social networking too, and as you comment on different blogs in the blogosphere BackType will archive those comments for you.
This is very useful when you sit back and try to remember where you made that clever comment two days ago. Instead of searching your browser history looking for a needle in a haystack you just go to your BackType profile and find it there. I have done exactly that several times already.
Another cool thing about having your comments in one central location like that is sharing your thoughts with others. Other bloggers can even tweet or reply to the comment right from your profile. Bloggers can follow each other and even subscribe to each other’s comment feed. Just like other social networking sites this interaction makes it easy to make friends with your friends – only now you can get a better idea about someone when you see how they react to various blog posts.
Did I mention BackType is free? Check out my BackType profile here: http://www.backtype.com/ExtremeEzine
I was inspired to try BackType from Shanker Bakshi dot Com’s post Find, Follow and Share Your Comments With BackType
Tags: Blogging, Site Reviews
[...] Have you ever tried to find a two day old blog comment you left on someone’s blog? Ever wonder what other blogs your friends comment on? BackType can help you with that and more absolutely free. See my personal blog post at ‘Now Where Did You Put That Comment?‘. [...]
Hey Brian,
I had looked at BackType a while back & just left it in my bookmarks because I did not understand how it keeps track of your comments.
Do you need to use a special link that they give you or is it more like a tracker that follows your normal URL? Also, if it does track a URL, will it only track the domain name or will it also work if it is a page link that you leave with your comment?
Also, Do you see any benefit as far as people seeing your profile & then wanting to visit your site because you are interesting?
Ok, just asking before I sign up.
Sheryl Lochs last blog post..When was a Site Last Updated
Hi Sheryl, I’m not sure how it finds my comments to be honest. I don’t do anything different than I always have. No special links or anything like that. I guess it spiders the net looking for my name or email address or something. I did notice that it doesn’t find every comment.
I’m not sure if it sees links within the post. I don’t think it does.
As far as following someone because their comments and blogs they visit are interesting, I guess that’s the whole idea. You should have a ton of followers, including me, because you are very interesting and have excellent taste
Thanks for the Super Speedy Reply!
See, since I do not yet have the comment finder back link thing a ma bop & there is no check to be notified of reply here. I had to sit & watch the screen for you to answer. Glad you did because I have to potty bad! LOL!
It should also help the blogs you comment at since it gives a link to the post. It is No Follow but, it could still get clicks.
Sheryl Lochs last blog post..When was a Site Last Updated
Ok, I have a plan!
I signed up & I am following you. This means I get a list of all your comments also. Since BackType has an RSS feed, I am hooking it to my story page that has a feed that hooks to my Friendfeed. This will give you & me (and anyone I follow) even more exposure.
When we get the Blog Co-Op set up – I am going to do the same thing under it’s name. And I will use that ID to follow anyone in the blog Co-Op.
A bonus is that my Story page has do follow links!
I’ll see how it works out for us.
Hope you do not mind being a guinea pig.
Sheryl Lochs last blog post..Happy Birthday Allison
Sorry about that Sheryl. I’ve been meaning to add the ’subscribe to comments’ plugin for a while now. It’s up and working now. Thanks
Thanks for the post, Brian.
@Sheryl: To claim your comments, sign in and visit http://www.backtype.com/home/claim — simply enter the URLs you comment with into the textarea. For example, you would enter http://sherylloch.com/ as well as any other URLs you enter in the “Website” or “URL” field of comment forms on blogs. Once you’ve claimed all your comments, you can also add BackType as a service on FriendFeed and your comments will show up there.
Let me know if you have any other questions: chris [at] backtype [dot] com
Hey thanks Christopher. I added a bunch of sites and my comments went from 5 pages to 138 and I’m sure I’m still missing a ton of sites that I need to add.
I remember that page but I get in such a hurry sometimes I must have thought that was only for my sites. I’m following you now Christopher, thanks for the tip.
@Brian: You shouldn’t be adding all those URLs — only add the URLs that you publish in the comment form on blogs. On this blog, it looks like you comment anonymously so we won’t be able to attribute those to you.
For example, I only claim:
http://cg.urbantwelve.com/
http://www.backtype.com/cg
Thanks for the follow
Wow, thanks Christopher. I misunderstood. That’s what I get for replying before my pot of coffee even finished brewing. I deleted those URLs and thankfully my page number went back to five. That was scary, it would be like stealing my friend’s comments. I do appreciate the help
No worries — it’s a common mistake. Thanks again for the post and follow; let me know if you have any more questions
Hey Brian,
I am so glad that I read this nice little post.
I have been looking for something to keep my blog commenting organized and this looks like the perfect solution for me.
Thanks a bunch.
I’m glad you took the time to comment Johnny. Thanks for that.
Backtype.com –i’m going to give that a look. It’ll be nice to be able to see where I comment and the pages I’ve been to so i can follow up on any comments just in case i dont click on the “notify me of followup comments via e-mail” because receiving all those emails just takes more space in my inbox haha
thanks for coming by my blog by the way–let me know if you find a way to market it but yes the harlem globetrotters of soccer haha
Pheak Ts last blog post..Dragonball Movie Trailer
Hey Brian,
I am so glad that I read this nice little post.
I have been looking for something to keep my blog commenting organized and this looks like the perfect solution for me.
By the way, I have signed up already and have been pleasantly surprised about the referral traffic that has been coming directly from backtype (and it is good quality traffic too). This was an unexpected little bonus.
Online Marketing Promotions last blog post..Plug In Profit Site – Review
Hi John, I searched your name and I’m following you now. Targeted traffic is always a plus. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Thanks for the mention Brian – Sorry i notice it late
Shanker Bakshis last blog post..Grab Free Custom Built SEO Site
Hi Shanker, no problem. I’m glad you wrote about BackType. I’m up to ten pages of comments so far. I see you do too – I’m Following you
This looks like a very interesting service indeed. Im a little confused however.. do you have to manually enter the index page url’s of the blogs that you comment on then? I got the impression you didnt do this 1st time around brian?
@Jon Shelving: You only claim the URLs that you own — the one you entered in this form was http://www.fitmyshop.co.uk/ for example.
Let me know if you have any other questions @ chris [at] backtype [dot] com
Hey Pheak, I’m sorry, your comment slipped by me. I like your site. You have some great content and videos.
Hi Jon,
No you only need to enter the URLs that you enter in the comment form. For example, above you commented with: http://www.fitmyshop.co.uk/ — If you add this URL to your account then all comments you make using that URL (including the one above) will be attributed to your account.
Here’s a bit more on our FAQ: http://www.backtype.com/faq#q4
Hope that helps.
Hi Jon, I was a little confused at first too but Christopher cleared it up for me. You just tell the site which URLs that you enter into the ‘Website’ part of the comment form. It usually asks for your name, email address, website and then your comment. BackType just needs to know which site/sites you enter for your website. Somehow BackType seems to spider the net looking for your posts. It’s amazing.
Wow, that was cool. Three of us answered at the same time
Thanks Christopher and Mike for the quick responses.
Hey Brian,
The people at BackType are fast on the Customer Service!
I posted my article last night & they hit me from a search in FriendFeed & Twitter.
It is hard to find companies with time to help answer questions little alone actually search for them.
So a big round of applause for their team!!!
Sheryl Lochs last blog post..Tracking Blog Comments on BackType
It’s true Sheryl, they are good people. Both BackType co-founders Christopher Golda and Mike Montano have been active in this very conversation. You can see several of their comments above. They’re tops in my book.
I’ve joined a while back and I must say it is pretty good. I haven’t started following anyone yet but I reckon I can fix that pretty easily. It sure makes it easy to keep track of where you are dropping your comments.
Sires last blog post..Sire’s Big Moment A Total Flop
Hey guys,
When I get the hankerin to read new blogs, I just go to the list of People on Backtype and see where they have been commenting. Many times I have no interest in what they are talking about but, it is a good way to see what’s out there that I just did not know about. I need a variety some days.
HA!! I am following Sire also – I think it will be easier to keep track of what he is up to. I would hate for him to get 1 up on me.
I think everyone should belong to Backtype just because.
Sheryl Lochs last blog post..Is My Child is a Geek
@Sire: Hi Sire, I’m your new BackType follower. I use it all of the time. It’s pretty convenient when I’m writing a post and want to link to a similar one but can’t remember where it was. I log into BackType and find the comment. Within minutes I’m in business.
@Sheryl: Hey Sheryl. I’ve seen you around a lot. It’s true that we see to same people all over the place on different blogs. I’ll find a new blog that I like and then notice I recognize many of the commenters. Good call on using BackType as a great way to extend that reach.
@Christopher: You should hire me and Sheryl to write copy for BackType. Did you see what I just said to Sheryl? “BackType is a great way to extend that reach. “. It’s pretty bad when I can impress myself so easily LOL
@Sheryl, @Brian: Great to hear you’re finding new ways to use BackType
@Brian: I’ll keep that in mind