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Have you ever installed a new plugin that works fine, but soon after you find another widget starts acting up? Well, is the sky blue? After I changed the Topsy Retweet plugin to show tweets as trackback comments, some strange names appeared on the Top Commentators list! This post talks about what you can do to make the Topsy and Top Commentators plugins play well together.
image- Darren Lum
Topsy Retweet Button
Recently, the Tweetme plugin stopped working, so I replaced it with Topsy retweet. Topsy creates the icon for readers to retweet your posts. You can also display tweets as trackback comments whenever someone tweets your article. The plugin captures historical tweet counts and is simply perfect!
Not only does the top part of our button display how many times the post has been tweeted, but if you press the number you can see who actually posted the tweets. The software also flags "influential" and highly influential" tweeters!
This snapshot shows three Twitter trackback for a recent post:
Notice 'techandlife' is an influential tweeter who tweeted directly, while 'lanaktng' used AddToAny, and 'mikeeadams' retweeted someone else's RT.
The Influence factor
measures the likelihood that, each time you say something, people will pay attention. ... roughly the top 0.2% most influential of all Twitter users are tagged “Highly Influential” and “Influential” tags appear for the top 0.5% ... Topsy Labs
Well I'm not a snobbish person, but I did find a handy way to use the influence labels. I did not want to display 13 or more tweets trackbacks. So I told the plugin to show only 'influential' tweeters by selecting these options:
Trackback Comments
Comment Display Style
Use the second option to show the tweet text --- some themes like Thesis show only a link name.
Top Commentators Widget
We use Webgrrrl's Top Commentators Widget to recognize our most vocal readers with a follow- link. Of course that means monitoring and squashing the con artists with names like “Mortgage Loans”, who leave comments just for the linkback. Other 'gamers' try stealing a real top commentator's identity! The bad guys submit a short comment with the good guy's name, but use their own email and url.
Here's how the widget helps you control some of the gamers: 1) exclude spam commentators who slip though the cracks over time; 2) set a limit on the length of names to shut out the likes of 'highly polished wood floors;' and 3) put in the url for sites with spam mailboxes.
Solving Problem of Topsy and Commentator Fouls
The solution to the problem of tweet trackbacks hogging our Top Commentators list is to block influential tweeters. Why would I want to do that? Well, if their tweet trackbacks force them to the top of the list. I feel the widget is for readers who take part in the dialog around the blog's content.
The solution is to add the Twitter domain name to the list of users we want to block in the Top Commentators widget:
Do you use the Twitter trackbacks feature of Topsy Retweet? Feel free to start the discussion on this topic. Who knows, you may make our Top Commentators' list if your name is not "Used Tires"!
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{ 12 comments }
Thanks for discussion about this twit plugin I was not using it but I would use it for sure.
I installed the Topsy Retweet Button plugin recently. I initially only wanted a quick-and-easy way to provide inline retweeting, but I've found the Topsy-powered trackbacking of RTs to be the more gratifying aspect of this tool (for me, anyway). I've also hacked the tweet-trackbacks slightly to include a Twitter button-icon when they post to my site, to better ID them as social media "reactions". Here's an example.
Nicely done. very interesting website name. Thanks for stopping by.
I am using Tweetmeme pluing, I will surely give a try to topsy. I liked the tip to enable on influential people trackbacks. Nice post.
You'll be glad you did. Let us know. I tweeted one of your posts.
Most funny! I suspect the influential tweeters have you on their wanted list — you are a 'top commentator' and someone has to pay!
But seriously, I just retweeted and no problem. What error did you get when you tried? Meanwhile you can use the short url "http://bit.ly/cPNWwo" and go about it the old-fashioned way… thanks.
Update: OH! I get it now. You pressed the photo of the tweet button within the post! I thought that might trap someone… lol
@SBA
You will laugh when you hear this. I clicked the Topsy Retweet Button example in the post and not the actual retweet on the top of the post itself.
Here's a belly laugh for you as I was reading the article I clicked the retweet button and discovered it wasn't functioning. DUH…
Ha, I love it. Even laughed a couple times, especially at "…if your name is not 'Used Tires'!'" I'll probably be resourcing this article when the Topsy plugin gets updated for me. The developer said he was going to be making some options to disable the plugin on certain pages.
Thanks. I see you have "coder" friends in high places! Nice to have your suggestions in the mix.
I have the tweetmeme plugin and so far, it's still working, but I might check the topsy retweet plugin out as well. I never even heard of it until I read this!
Yes, give it a try. Change (even when forced by plugin gremlins) is good. Nice to see you again!
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