Nowadays you can’t go anywhere on the internet without running into comment boards and message boards. With the rise of web 2.0 they’re pretty much standard. Let me give you a brief rundown on the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Comment Boards, in a nutshell, are a stream of conversations centered around the content it’s attached to. It could be a blog post, a video, or a news story for example. They are more immediate and more easily accessible than a message board. You can quickly look at all the user conversations based on that article or story and respond in a linear fashion. Such openess, though, makes it difficult to have meaningful conversations. Still, they keep people coming back and they give whatever it is attached to more substance and depth. Not to mention the added bonus of group participation.

Message boards, however, are a place for discussions around a broader topic (like your company, for example). These build a richer community than comment boards, allowing more in-depth discussions and continued interaction. Because they are their own thing, they aren’t as immediate as a comment board and often require one to register to begin participating. Getting people to register on your message board (even though it’s free and registration only takes a few seconds) can often be a little hurdle.

The good news is that you don’t have to choose one over the other. Put both on your website since they perfectly complement each other.

Jordan Brauner is an audio and video producer, comic artist, and photographer with a deep passion for finding and telling great stories. Feel free to contact him at: jordan.brauner@folkmedia.org or follow him on twitter. Article Image from Jordland.