Echo is tapping into the real-time web with its latest feature update; Echo Comments now displays comments in real time. The move is significant for Echo, as it bulks out features for its comments platform, particularly as publishers realize the need to capture as much fragmented feedback as they can.

What the real-time comments feature does is give readers instant access to the action around website content. Instead of displaying a Twitter stream of related content with a Facbook box of likes beneath, Echo will aggregate relevant comments in real time, as they pertain to a specific URL.

Existing Echo Comments clients, which include The Washington Post, Time, Slate and more, will automatically receive the update for real-time comments. Chris Saad, Echo’s VP of Strategy, notes his expectations for the new comments feature saying “this product continues our mission to turn static web pages into vibrant real-time experiences, driving Facebook style engagement on our
publisher sites.”

For publishers, the use of real-time comments is to drive traffic back to their sites. Tapping into the social web is a growing necessity, as this sharing behavior becomes central to how web content is spread amongst the masses. Comments-management has grown to a full-fledged economy, with services like Echo’s seeking a niche opportunity in which to apply the real-time web.

Completing the digital switchboard

On the back-end, Echo clients have accss to all the comments shared through and around its content, with options to reconfigure and parse it out as much as they’d like. it’s valuable data for a publisher, especially if they’re looking to create a more fluid experience for users. Where Echo misses out, however, is the incomplete connection amongst participating commenters.

Clicking on a comment from a particular user will direct you to the site on which they commented, leaving it to you to find the comment itself. This is a minor tweak that can be updated with an option to view more info on the user, and is one Saad mentions will b available soon.

The idea here is to roll out more social features around these comments streams, which is the reciprocal of this level of cross-site content aggregation. Completing the digital switchboard of comments communication would bring the new feature that much closer to full-circle, and perhaps even more beneficial for capturing and lengthening engagement around the tool.

Niche, personalized real-time web

Building a niche application around real-time data, however, is really the point to focus on. Long-term, businesses will find more ways to fasten real-time data to practices, research and user features. Personalization around real-time data, whether it be for business or consumer use, is something that will explode in the next year.

Microsoft and Google have anticipated growing demand, with the inclusion of real-time data in search results, while Opinionaided has created an iPhone app to tap into the real-time web in order to offer you advice on-demand. As investments increase industry-wide, sites like Twitter and OneRiot are also incorporating more personalized search results and marketing around real-time data.