Real-time commenting system Livefyre says it can increase page views by 25%

Livefyre, which you may notice provides the commenting system we use here at The Next Web (this is our full disclosure), announced this week that is has launched version 2.0 of its product, as well as a round of new funding led by Greycroft Partners.

The company tells us that the service has grown to an install base of over 14,000 sites since its original launch, and has been popular with individuals as well as global publishers like ours.

Sites installing Livefyre are seeing some measurable results on average, the company says, including:

• 25% increase in page views
• 52% increase in comments per page
• 20% increase in time on site

Other sites using Lifefyre include BlogHer, and The Sun.

Real-time commenting does indeed keep people on a site longer, because it isn’t static and boring. With version 2.0, Livefyre has added more social features such as profile pictures of users “listening”, meaning people on the page at that moment, as well as up to the second updates on new comments.

We asked Livefyre’s CEO Jordan Kretchmer a few questions about the company’s growth and why its different from most commenting systems.

TNW: What is LiveFyre’s biggest differentiator?

Jordan Kretchmer: Our focus on real-time participation creates a completely new kind of social experience for commenters and bloggers right on site content. That’s really the key here – we differentiate on sparking and fostering participation on YOUR site, instead of pushing it off to a social network. But to go one step further – we bring relevant conversations from around the Web back to your site, too. We help turn blogger and publisher content into the conversation hub.

TNW: What have you done that others have failed to pick up, what’s your leg up on competitors?

Jordan Kretchmer: From the very beginning, we put a premium on user experience, making commenting an active and surprisingly fun experience. Our social features, like SocialSync™ and FriendTagging are industry firsts, and we have plenty more exciting features like that up our sleeves. We are constantly innovating on how people can interact with site content and with each other.

TNW: Do you find that social media platform comments are pushing Blog commenting away from the norm? ie: Tweets and Facebook comments

Jordan Kretchmer: I think that external social media platforms have changed people’s’ expectations of how they want to interact with one another. Our goal with Livefyre is raise those expectations even higher by expanding on what those external networks have done, all right on the publisher’s site. For example, the ability to tag friends from all of your social networks, and from other people in that site’s community, is unique and powerful. Livefyre in essence connects me, to my friends from everywhere, to the content I like to talk about.

TNW: What is the first thing you’re doing with funding? What is the funding for?

Jordan Kretchmer: First thing we’re doing with the funding is rounding out our product engineering team, and growing our sales and business development practices. The net result of that is that you’ll start to see us adding new features faster than ever, and you’ll start seeing more of the little “Powered by Livefyre” logo all over the web. And soon.

It sounds like Livefyre is ready to battle a war with competitors such as Echo, Disqus, and even Facebook who has its own embeddable commenting system for blogs and publications.