Twit Connect

Twit Connect provides your readers with the ability to quickly claim their comments through a Twitter-provided login.  The method used by Twitter to enable this process is called oAuth.  oAuth is an authentication standard that allows users to identify themselves using their Twitter user name without needing to provide their Twitter password.

Twit Connect provides two different options for connecting to Twitter, hosted oAuth or self-hosted.  Using the hosted method, your blog will connect to a Whitley Media server which will manage the oAuth exchange.  In the self-hosted option, everything is handled on your blog, however you must register your blog with Twitter as a Twitter application.  PHP 5 or greater is required to run the self-hosted option.  The hosted option will run under PHP 4 or 5.

These are the steps that are required for the self-hosted option:

  1. Install the plugin.
  2. Register your blog on Twitter.com and retrieve your Consumer Key and Consumer Secret.
  3. Plug those items into Twit Connect’s configuration page and you will have a complete and independent oAuth application.

When your readers want to comment on a post, they’ll simply click on a button and provide their Twitter credentials to identify themselves. You’ll also see their Twitter avatar alongside the comments if you’ve setup avatar support on your blog.

With the hosted option, simply enable the plugin.  You do not need to register your blog with Twitter.

Twit Connect sports a choice of two different buttons, the classic Twit Connect button or the “Signin with Twitter” button from Peter Denton.

Manage Twit Connect under the Settings Menu

twcconfig

Filling out the Twitter Application Form

The Twitter form was designed for applications, but it can work for your blog too. Please see the example below:

twc1

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