Previously I had comments completely disabled and was asking readers to comment on Facebook or Twitter. I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of managing users and combatting bots. Akismet is a good tool for automatically detecting spam in comments, but I’d still have to allow site registration and profile management.
Using a plugin called “Social Login” the site now allows users to login via Twitter, Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn, and leave comments! This is managed on both sides using the social media APIs and the native WordPress user module. I’ve even configured it in such a way that allows users to login and attribute multiple social media accounts to one central user, thus allowing you the luxury of logging in with any of your profiles, but posting as one user.