"Loux took the opportunity to introduce Echo - his new product that allows publishers to embed a simple JavaScript widget and aggregate social media and blog dialogue from across the web." - Gosh, I wonder if that was a a factor in declaring the death of comments...
I think this is hype.
Comments occurs when you have community, and they area more valuable here than in Twitter/Facebook.<p>Also, it's very difficult to have a focused conversation on twitter.