14 DAY TRIAL // WordPress.com has added new features enabling users to get some stats on comments, for the first time. Blog owners can now know who is the most active community member, which posts generate the most attention and have an overall view of commenting activity on their sites.
The new features should already be available to WordPress.com uses who have to visit the Site Stats section in the WordPress.com Dashboard to find it.
"Ever wanted to know who’s commenting the most on your blog and what posts they are commenting on? Now your Site Stats can tell you," WordPress.com announced.
"The new Comments panel in your Site Stats provides three tabs: Top Commenters, Most Commented, and a Summary of comments on your blog," it said.
The data is already available to all WordPress.com users, but the site is working on making it available to those hosting their own blogs as well.
There are plans to integrate comments stats with the Jetpack plugin for WordPress. Jetpack enables those hosting their own blogs to access some WordPress.com features, such as blog stats, Gravatar hovercards, and other tools.
Soon, Jetpack users will also have access to comments data. The feature works differently depending on the size of your blog. Popular blogs with a lot of activity will list stats for the trailing three months.
"If your blog has fewer than 1000 total comments, your comment stats are based on all comments made since you started your blog. Comment stats for more active blogs reflect the most recent three months of comment activity," WordPress.com explained.
WordPress.com is also debuting a couple of new applications for the site. The first enables you to convert your blog, or part of it, into a book, either a PDF or even a printed one. The second app, Empire Avenue, enables users to track their social networking influence in game form.