Helping to power some of the coolest websites on the internet is one of our very favorite things about what we do here at Disqus.

Last Monday, the digital world was rocked as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp all went down for an unprecedented amount of time (about 6 hours, but it felt like forever, didn't it?) due to a combination of factors involving human error as well as a code update that went awry and prevented Facebook from accessing its own data centers.

Twitter's newest feature, Communities, is set to take on Facebook Groups, Reddit, and Discord as a viable method of creating semi-exclusive, interest-based conversations.

Here at Disqus, we’re always dreaming up tools that will help our publishers boost community engagement. A highly engaged community enjoys robust returning visitor traffic and time-on-site, two crucial performance metrics that can lead to higher ad revenue and better SEO positioning.

In a move that directly impacts publishers and their ad revenue, Google has recently announced that they’ll be replacing their Scaled Partner Management (SPM) program with Multiple Customer Management (MCM). 

Digital publishers love people that notice their work - I mean, who doesn’t? There are “creators” that will create UGC for your brand. The “engagers” that will share your posts, and of course, the “commenters” that keep your online community alive. 
 

Over the last 6 weeks Facebook has both banned and reversed course on news content in Australia. This is scary! It demonstrated that publishers are at the whims of Facebook for traffic and, in turn, revenue and audience.  

Although Facebook has since reversed its decision, the message is clear: Facebook isn't always a dependable platform for publishers to reach their audience. 

Being able to make your comments section align with your community values and goals is something we work towards every day here at Disqus. Today we have a number of new capabilities available to our publishers to further customize the Disqus embed on your site. Please keep in mind that these new features are available to our Pro and Business accounts only. Check them out below:

I’m sure by now you’ve seen the hysteria, jokes, memes, articles, and watched the 2 documentaries about the infamous Fyre Festival🔥. If not, please shield your eyes, stop reading now, and don’t come back until you do! Because spoilers, y’all!!