Several weeks ago, Twitter link tracker TweetMeme announced its own comment system, which includes the ability to retweet individual comments left on the site.
For example, on this TweetMeme page for Mashable’s story about Flickr’s iPhone app, you see a number of comments along with a “retweet” option that will post to Twitter if you’re logged in through OAuth.
Now, all of those comments are getting a clever additional twist courtesy of the perfect short URL: rep.ly. Here’s how it works quite simply: when TweetMeme users opt to publish their comments to Twitter, they’ll automatically include a link back using the rep.ly short URL.
While it would be easy to dump this in the omg-yet-another-URL-shortener category, what TweetMeme ends up with is an ideal way to get users more engaged in the site’s community. The company tells us rep.ly will be used exclusively for comments on the site and that their aim is that “users of twitter come to recognize that URL means a comment.”
Initially, I questioned the retweetability of comments, since a good one typically goes more than 140 characters and lacks the snapiness of a good headline and short URL. While rep.ly doesn’t solve that problem, it’s a great branding move that should pique user’s curiosity as they start to see it pop up on Twitter – after all, while individual comments might not be all that retweetable, there’s still a good chance you’ll want to check out a friend’s rep.ly.