Wordpress.com introduces 'liking' and reblogging

[charmian]

Recently, Buzz introduced a form of reblogging (and it had liking embedded in it from the beginning).

Now Wordpress.com has joined in, it seems: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/we-all-like-to-reblog/

Notably, the like aspect is not embedded in within the post itself, but within the wordpress.com toolbar; this is similar to how it is when you view a tumblr post on its own page (although Tumblr's is much more esthetically pleasing). I think this is better because it doesn't clutter the blog with a function that non-logged out users can't use. I've long been an advocate of the 'liking' feature on various websites (and actually, I wish that this existed as an option on DW).

They're also saying they want to create a wordpress plugin related to this, though I'm not sure how it would work on self-hosted WP.

Comments

[gchick]

Since multisite is one of the major emphases of WP 3.0, I can very easily imagine a reblogging plugin that would work across a multisite (and yes, I keep typing "multiuser") network -- I work with a network of a few hundred WP blogs, and we love anything we can get our hands on to encourage connections across the blogging project as opposed to every site its own little kingdom. I will be pushing this heavily if we get to the plugin stage in the next couple of months, you betcha.

A plugin that worked across installations, not just across blogs in a multisite network, would be a little more complicated technically and possibly a lot more complicated socially (just look at all the people crying for opt-outs already!), but still not terribly hard. I imagine something like (a) I go to a site that has the plugin enabled; (b) my browser checks for a login cookie (and possibly that I also use the plugin; outside of a network it becomes much less clear whether the plugin has to be reciprocal); (c) some limited version of the WP toolbar appears with the like/reblog tools but of course not links to the admin area of the blog I'm currently visiting.

[torachan]

I would love a "like" function on DW.

[charmian]

Yeah, that would be quite useful, especially if you had like a log of your likes for future reference also.

[torachan]

Ooh, yeah, that would be very cool. I especially see myself using a like button on meta, so that would make it very handy to find stuff. (I would probably also use it on fic, but I do keep a delicious of all the fic I read, so it's fairly easy to find stuff again.)

[charmian]

Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that they were merging Wordpress MU into 3.0. Hopefully they do make it an MU plugin soon.

Yeah, it would be much more complex, although if they have to install the plugin, then the opting in process is already completed. The amount of opting in it would take would ultimately make it not much different from using ShareThis or Facebook Like, though.

[charmian]

There's memorying now, which I don't use on DW, but it doesn't perform the social function of telling the person that you liked their stuff.

[torachan]

Yeah, I really, really dislike the memories, though. It's just such a mess.

[foxfirefey]

Someday memories is going to be ripped out by the roots and remade into something much, much more useful and social.

[charmian]

Yeah, I do as well. It's one of the main reasons why I don't use em.

[charmian]

Ooohh, sounds cool. Social like how?

[charmian]

Ooohh, sounds cool. Social like how?

[foxfirefey]

You can see discussion on the bug here:

http://bugs.dwscoalition.org/show_bug.cgi?id=210

But social as in that there's be a viewing page so that you can see what your circle and network have been bookmarking, and it'll be plugged into the current permissions system.

[torachan]

I knew there was a planned rehauling of the memories, but I am glad to hear they will be more social, too!

[yvi]

I have a spec! I just need to get around to actually, you know, do it.

[charmian]

Good luck! It sounds like a big undertaking.