What other sites are like parentsbehavingbadly.com?

What are the effects and benefits of reaction buttons on sites like BuzzFeed and Huffington Post?

• Both sites offer badges like "LOL" or "WTF" that users can click on. YouTube has tested similar badges, and I've seen them on some news sites like USA Today. Apart from diverting basic reactions away from the comment section, what else do these badges achieve?

• Answer:

  In fact, there are lot of benefits to adding reaction buttons to a site.First, it offers a way to engage with a wider range of users. Comments are a great way to allow your audience to react and interact with the content but it also requires a larger commitment  on the part of your users. With only comments on a site, you may miss out on hearing from your quieter visitors. The fix? Create a quick and easy way for users to react to the content with just the click of a button. This is especially relevant today as many visitors are no accessing sites via mobile, where typing out a comment becomes even more demanding. You can also discover some really interesting insights from data collected from reaction buttons. Buzzfeed, for instance, can use the data from the badges to see which reaction leads to the most page views or shares on social media. For example, based on the voting, Buzzfeed may find that users who clicked on the "lol" reaction were more likely to share the article on Facebook, or that perhaps users spend more time on "WTF" articles. If you are interested in adding something like this to your site, my company actually offers a free Feedback system, called http://www.vicomi.com/products/feelbacks, where users can share their reaction to the content by selecting one of the 5 emotions. At Vicomi, we believe there is a great benefit to these types of reaction systems that make it fun and easy for your users to engage with the content. It allows for you to hear from more of your visitors, and helps you develop a larger and happier community  on your site.