How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form

by Patrick Altoft on April 21, 2009

Twitter has quietly released Sign in with Twitter which is a neat system allowing websites to access your Twitter account details without you having to give them your password.

I’ve used the Twit Connect plugin from Voice of Tech to implement this on Blogstorm so that all my readers can leave a comment without entering their URL & name. All you have to do is click the button and we can pull your name, avatar & Twitter profile page to go alongside your comment.

First of all you need to register your application with Twitter so they can give you an API key.

Next you need to upgrade your server to PHP 5 because the plugin does’t work with PHP 4.

Finally upload the plugin & follow the instructions below:

Upload `twitconnect.php` and all included files to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory.
Place `<?php if(function_exists(‘twit_connect’)){twit_connect();} ?>` in your comment template or rely on the default `<?php do_action(‘comment_form’, $post->ID); ?>` code.
Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
Modify plugin options through the `Settings` menu

It’s worth noting that this plugin doesn’t allow blog owners to do anything other than pull your public details from Twitter so it’s quite safe for you to use. Personally I think it would be nice to give readers the option to automatically tweet a link to the comment they have left.

Please try it out using the comment form below & let me know what you think.

Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Leeds based digital & SEO agency Branded3. Patrick also runs Blogstorm.

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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }

Jim Bailey 21 Apr 2009 at 9:43 pm: Surprised they haven’t made to much fan fare over this as it rivals Facebook connect for me, seen it about the blogosphere once or twice.
More comments from Jim Bailey
Patrick Altoft 21 Apr 2009 at 9:52 pm: I love this plugin, what do you think?
More comments from Patrick Altoft
Pablogeo 21 Apr 2009 at 10:01 pm: Testing plugin… lets see.
More comments from Pablogeo
Anthony Main 21 Apr 2009 at 10:37 pm: Nice, but where’s the OpenId support, why have Twitter not got on board
More comments from Anthony Main
maestroluis 21 Apr 2009 at 10:49 pm: this is totally awesome!
More comments from maestroluis
Kristi 21 Apr 2009 at 10:49 pm: Nice little plugin to rival the Facebook and Google Connect.
More comments from Kristi
Justin Reid 21 Apr 2009 at 10:52 pm: Cool idea, I use ASP so this plug in wouldn’t be much use – but worth looking into and maybe developing my own… good one
More comments from Justin Reid
Rax Lakhani 21 Apr 2009 at 11:17 pm: Nice…
More comments from Rax Lakhani
Joshua Hay 21 Apr 2009 at 11:22 pm: This is neat. One thing I noticed though is that once logged in using Twitter, the logout button doesn’t seem to work. I’m getting a try again message.
More comments from Joshua Hay
Jolenta Averill 21 Apr 2009 at 11:29 pm: Cool! Thanks for the heads up.
More comments from Jolenta Averill
Holysh1t 21 Apr 2009 at 11:59 pm: Wow gotta test this
More comments from Holysh1t
Will Brown 22 Apr 2009 at 12:17 am: Interesting. Thanks for sharing this. I haven’t heard much about this.
More comments from Will Brown
Games.com - Laurent 22 Apr 2009 at 12:22 am: Si. Yo soy testing.
More comments from Games.com – Laurent
Branden Silva 22 Apr 2009 at 12:33 am: Testing out this plugin. Looks awesome so far.
More comments from Branden Silva
Peter van Veen 22 Apr 2009 at 6:02 am: Hmmm, when I try to sign in with Twitter via the button here above, Twitter said:

“This feature is temporarily disabled.”
Patrick Altoft 22 Apr 2009 at 7:45 am
Find me on Twitter: Twitter has temporarily taken Oauth down to fix some bugs it seems. The problem is on all services not just Blogstorm.
More comments from Patrick Altoft
GameRoulette 22 Apr 2009 at 3:16 pm: great article!!! 10 of 10 for sure.
FullTiltPokerJersey 22 Apr 2009 at 4:27 pm: very good thanks for your help
melanie 23 Apr 2009 at 12:30 pm: Cool! Thanks for sharing.
Mind if I suggest something? I’m also using Plurk, and I like it better than Twitter.

-Melanie
-Sell Anything Like Crazy
Juanita 07 Jun 2009 at 4:38 am: What about a check box to post the comment to twitter or a link to the post?

{ 23 tweetbacks }

21 patrickaltoft (Patrick Altoft) 21/04/2009 at 8:58 pm: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form: Twitter has quietly released Sign in with .. http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
22 lordmatt (Lord Matt) 21/04/2009 at 9:12 pm: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
23 lordmattborg (lordmattborg) 21/04/2009 at 9:12 pm: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve http://ff.im/-2gIGv
24 problogger (Darren Rowse) 21/04/2009 at 9:46 pm: Reading: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form – http://is.gd/tKvy
25 topher (Chris) 21/04/2009 at 10:02 pm: TopherRT @problogger Reading: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form – http://is.gd/tKvy
26 BloggingBetty (Rosie Horner) 21/04/2009 at 10:03 pm: rt@NoraBurns ,How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form – http://is.gd/tKvy (via @problogger)
27 yamasas (yamasas) 21/04/2009 at 10:31 pm: [twitter] How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
28 lordmattborg (lordmattborg) 21/04/2009 at 11:35 pm: FF: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve (via Twitter) http://tinyurl.com/ck5sek
29 damondnollan (Damond Nollan) 21/04/2009 at 11:44 pm: Liked “Reading: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form – http://is.gd/tKvy” http://ff.im/-2gL8x
30 seanchoe (Sean Choe (ìµœìš°í˜•)) 22/04/2009 at 1:48 am: Bookmarked : How to add a Twitter Connect: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog c.. http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
31 konterfai (Konterfai) 22/04/2009 at 2:50 am: Reading: “How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form” ( http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve )
32 blogsir (blogsir) 22/04/2009 at 3:24 am: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
33 kirste (Kirsten Mitchell) 22/04/2009 at 4:32 am: Reading: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form – http://is.gd/tKvy (via @problogger)
34 db (Damien Basile) 22/04/2009 at 6:55 am: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form http://is.gd/tKvy via @Problogger
35 PeterScotts (~Peter Scott~) 22/04/2009 at 8:29 am: How to add a Twitter Connect sign in button to your blog comment form: Twitter has quietly released Sign in with.. http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
36 robertbland (Bob Bland) 22/04/2009 at 1:44 pm: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form: Twitter has quietly released Sign in with .. http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
37 raavi (Mihalcea Razvan) 22/04/2009 at 2:06 pm: â™¥ | “How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form” ( http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve )
38 PaulKonrardy (Paul Konrardy) 22/04/2009 at 2:10 pm: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form: Twitter has quietly released Sign in with .. http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
39 thejonwest (Jon West) 22/04/2009 at 3:38 pm: [feed] How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form: Twitter has quietly released .. http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
40 ProjectLauncher (Project Launcher) 23/04/2009 at 7:00 am: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
41 taita80 (Pushan Banerjee) 24/04/2009 at 6:45 am: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form http://tinyurl.com/chk5ve
42 the_seagull (Giusy Mauro) 24/04/2009 at 11:51 am: How to add a #Twitter Connect signin button to your #blog comment form – http://is.gd/tKvy
43 knowliz (Anurag Bansal) 27/04/2009 at 10:33 pm: Reading: How to add a Twitter Connect signin button to your blog comment form – http://is.gd/tKvy – FriendFeed http://ff.im/-2phiG