How can a PHP developer ensure user engagement and interaction through features like "last visitors"?

To ensure user engagement and interaction through features like "last visitors," a PHP developer can create a system that tracks and displays the most recent visitors to a website. This can be achieved by storing visitor information in a database and retrieving and displaying it on the website in a visually appealing way. By showing users that others are actively engaging with the website, it can encourage them to do the same.

// Connect to the database
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database_name");

// Insert visitor information into the database
$ip_address = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
$timestamp = time();
$query = "INSERT INTO visitors (ip_address, timestamp) VALUES ('$ip_address', '$timestamp')";
$mysqli->query($query);

// Retrieve and display the last visitors
$query = "SELECT * FROM visitors ORDER BY timestamp DESC LIMIT 5";
$result = $mysqli->query($query);

echo "<h3>Last Visitors:</h3>";
echo "<ul>";
while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    echo "<li>" . $row['ip_address'] . " - " . date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $row['timestamp']) . "</li>";
}
echo "</ul>";

// Close the database connection
$mysqli->close();