Would Someone Please Say Something?

May 29th, 2009 by admin

: Image via Wikipedia

It’s almost 11:30 this Thursday night and I’ve been watching for blog comments since yesterday morning when I posted my article on where traffic comes from when you use social networking to get traffic. And as yet the only comments I’ve received are from spammers.

Now I realize that thousands of people don’t read my articles however I do get a few hundred including you. But even when I tell you in black and white that leaving comments on blogs is an easy way to get your link in front of others that are interested in the same things you are…

No one leaves any comments!

Can you imagine how frustrating this is?

To quote from an article about blog comments,

Comments are the backbone of the social web. Everything is going social if it has not already been that way for some time. Why is that? People are social by nature. It’s how we communicate. It’s how we learn. It’s how we teach.

WebProNews

Now I wasn’t going to say anything about how frustrating it is to not get any comments on an article that not only invites you to leave 1 but also explains how to write them and why leaving them is important to you. However after I read the article in WebProNews I decided to write this and post their link because comments help all of us in other ways besides getting traffic.

Comments are a good way to get a conversation going where you can exchange ideas with others. You can ask questions. You can say you agree or disagree. You can provide additional information. And you can even do what I did when I read that article and leave a comment about how frustrated you are.

I hope you or someone who is a real person will leave a comment here or on 1 of my other articles soon but I’m not going to sit and monitor the blog waiting for 1.

Tomorrow, May 29, I may check the blog before I go out of town for the weekend if I have time but if I don’t it will be Monday before I will be back on my computer.

You see I have a busy weekend planned with my youngest daughter and her husband. They have asked me to come for the weekend to help them get the nursery set up for their first child that’s due next fall. Plus, since there’s going to be a day of action in our state’s capital on Saturday I think we’re going to spend a few hours there. So between moving and assembling furniture, getting baby items arranged and organized, spending time at the capital and visiting I don’t think I’ll have time to check for blog comments – especially with the past history I’ve had with them.

Oh, and for those who did read my article about providing too many details when you socialize online don’t worry about the safety of my home while I’m gone. I’m leaving my husband, oldest daughter, grandkids and 3 large dogs at home. So while I am concerned about what the condition of the house will be in when I return, I’m not worried about intruders. (1 of the dogs gets excited and barks even when a turtle or toad enters the yard and all 3 announce anything that’s taller than 6 inches.)

Well that’s it for now except to say that I hope you will start socializing by leaving some blog comments. And of course I hope you’ll leave 1 here but if not then I hope you’ll leave 1 somewhere.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. If you’re trying to get people to leave comments on your blog read “Ten tips for encouraging blog comments” by Neville Hobson.

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Print This Post Posted in Blogging, Social Networking 3 Comments

3 Responses to “Would Someone Please Say Something?”

GarykPatton says:

June 15, 2009 at 8:45 pm

Hi. I like the way you write. Will you post some more articles?

Reply
Susan says:

May 29, 2009 at 6:51 am

Great comment Viola! Thanks for sharing your experience and feelings about leaving blog comments.

I’m sure many feel like you did and are comfortable with being invisible and don’t think they have anything to say that others would be interested in reading.

However it’s impossible to do social networking and stay invisible. And while throwing off your blanket of invisibility means leaving your comfort zone once you’ve done it a few times you’ll discover that commenting on blogs can actually be fun.

The comment you left lets us know you exist and you’ve share some information about yourself so we can relate to who you are. So thanks again for leaving it.

I really liked these statements,
“I have discovered that I wanted to share ideas, thoughts and observations irrespective of whether they are challenging, erudite or witty enough. Some people even reply!” because they tell us what good comments are made of and that even though you might not have thought what you shared was of interest to anyone – it was.

Viola you’ve provided some valuable insight about what holds many back from leaving comments and I hope they’ll learn from your experience. Good luck with your new blog and I hope you’ll get many comments on it.

Susan’s last blog post..Would Someone Please Say Something?

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Viola says:

May 29, 2009 at 12:36 am

Being new to blogging myself I understand your frustration. It has taken me a month to set up a blog, make it look anything like one, and figure out how and why I want to use it. Ultimately, this is part of a masters course at London University, but suprisingly, despite initial resistance, I have found the last week to be a revelation – sort of. Reading other people’s thoughts, observations, opinions and the like, from the well-known to the obscure (moi), is like entering a monumental stream of consciousness. There is something about the informality of it that enables you to have something like a conversation – albeit, a conversation with an unseen person, or perhaps it is a conversation with oneself.

I appreciate how you feel. Initially, I was happy to be invisible. To observe, read and almost voyeuristically look at other people’s wide ranging ideas was interesting. I felt rather awkward about responding – why would annyone want to listen to what I had to say? However, I’ve found my own little spot of integrity. You can only be guided by what you feel is your own sense of purpose in the blog process. I have discovered that I wanted to share ideas, thoughts and observations irrespective of whether they are challenging, erudite or witty enough. Some people even reply!

I’m not quite brave enough to share personaly, family details yet. I tend to stick to topical or educational matters. I’m really interested in finding out how young people use social networks, blogging and the like to communicate. Having said that about not sharing family stuff, my two young adult children use Facebook as a means of sharing ideas, keeping in touch, sharing photos, and generally feeling ‘included’ in a wider community.

They seem so confident. Either way, I’ll keep at it a while longer. Enjoy your journey!

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