Social Website Discussion With Doogl

There are millions of websites in existence and many more are created and released each day. However, if you’re looking to find out about the credibility of a website or just what other people think about it, you can always count on your trusty friend Google. Sometimes, though, it can be hard to find real reviews as most people only take to talking about things on the web if they’re deeply dissatisfied with something.

That’s where Doogl comes in. Doogl allows any web users to easily activate their bookmarklet on a website and begin discussion. With an emphasis on expression, you can always find honest opinions of the website you’re browsing in a matter of clicks.

Overview

Doogl is a bookmarklet that allows anyone browsing a website to immediately activate a small discussion board from which the current website can be discussed. It runs completely separate from the website itself which means you’re not limited to a single login for each site you use Doogl on, allowing users to activate Doogl on multiple websites using a single Doogl account.

With support for a general discussion “wall”, a question and answers board and also a trust rating for for the website which users can add to and view others, it is a great platform for creating discussion without the website owners themselves having to go through the trouble of setting up a discussion board.

Installing the Bookmarklet

You can easily begin using the app by visiting the Doogl homepage and then following the links to install Doogl in your browser. This process simply involves dragging the bookmarklet into your browser’s bookmarks toolbar and then you’re immediately able to begin using Doogl.

Once you’ve navigated to a website of your choice, activating Doogl is simple and all you need to do is click the bookmarklet in your browser. You will then be presented with the wall of the website and you can begin interacting.

Registering an Account

Before you can begin actually using Doogl, you’re going to need an account. Accounts are easily-obtainable from within the launched bookmarklet so once you’ve activated it, you’re then able to either sign in with your existing Doogl account or create a new one without having to leave the page.

The registration process asks for only a couple of details from you, including gender and date of birth, so once this really short step is complete and you’ve activated your account by clicking the link in the email they’ve sent, you’re ready to go.

Using Doogl

Wall

This is the most common method of using Doogl and it simply involves posting a piece of text on the virtual “wall” of that website. This can be just a good method of stating how you feel about a certain site in the simplest form and it’s possible to even attach an image to your post.

Once you’ve done this, others can comment on your wall post or even share it through a handful of the most popular social networks. To put it simply, the wall feature is great if you just want to make a comment about a website without having to go into too much detail but still leave the opportunity for a discussion through the comments system.

Questions & Answers

The second method of using Doogl, and possibly one of the most important, is through the question and answer platform. This is as self-explanatory as it can get and you can easily use this as a means of asking others questions about the site if you require assistance or help with something. This can also be just a general way of simply querying others on certain aspects of the website you may be unsure about and would like an outside opinion on the topic.

Asking questions is as simple as simply entering a short question (and optionally a longer description or a relevant image), meaning your question is then visible for others to discover and answer. Similar to a smaller and more specific Yahoo! Answers, it can be a great means of getting feedback on a subject specific to that website.

Trust

The third Doogl option is by far the most useful and it allows users to rate the website on a scale of how trustworthy they deem it. Despite arguably being more useful for online retailers, this method could also be used on content providers whereby the visitors could use this as a method of rating the accuracy and relevance of the content.

To add a note on how trustworthy a website is, like the other options, all you need to do is enter a comment, optionally attach an image and also choose a rating out of 5 stars. Once this is done, your rating will be added to the list and an average will be calculated.

Conclusion

I found Doogl’s service to be quite an interesting, but positive one. It can be a great method of creating discussion without having a dedicated board that doesn’t perhaps offer a forum for users to comment on the website in particular. The app looks and feels great and the fact that the user doesn’t have to leave the website they are visiting to use the app at all adds more appeal, ensuring a seamless experience.

One of the disadvantages obviously is that not everyone will use Doogl so the more low-profile websites’ Doogl feeds are most likely going to be empty or with little activity. I think that with enough coverage and maybe some websites mentioning the fact that it’s possible to use Doogl to add discussion to their website, the app would have enough promotion to be successful. Otherwise, good job!