There I was just the other day talking to a chap whom I had never met before. Anyway we were talking about blogs and blogging etc etc. Anyway the subject turned to my blog and he mentioned that he liked one of my posts, cue the really smug happy feeling! anyway I asked if he left a comment? to which he replied “No, I had already left a comment on a previous post and didn’t want to seem like I was just posting for postings sake” I kind of dismissed this and continued on. The mere fact that I had some positive feedback was enough for me!!
Anyway, after the event I started to reflect on the conversation and more so the comments about blog comments and it got me thinking back to the time when I first started blogging and moving in online social media circles. Back in the day, I would be very hesitant to comment on other blogs or post a tweet and it very much reminded me of the first time I started to network offline. You know the time, when you enter a room full of people you don’t know, your mouths dry, hearts racing and you hug the perimeter of the room hoping that nobody will notice you and you can eventually slip away unnoticed. Trouble is some bugger always spots you and homes in on you and your tagged! Your pitch that you have revised in your head countless times deserts you and you turn into a bumbling idiot. The only saving grace is that you can blame your “newbie networking” status and generally get away with it for a short while.
For all intents and purposes, the whole blogging thing is exactly the same. You start your blog and quietly slip in under the radar, nobody notices you and thats ok. But soon you need to promote yourself or as my good friend would put it “Stick your pecker out” so you start to mingle in online circles, reading other blogs, getting jealous that they have traffic, readers and people that comment on their work. The experts say that you have to comment on blogs, advice we ignore in the early days. But sooner or later you’ve got to do it, you surf on over to your favorite blog, find a post that you really like, rehearse the comment you are going to write and then you write “Great Post” and quickly hit the submit button! Phew thank god thats over. You will then probably never post another comment to that blog for the exact same reason that the chap in the first part of this post gave, after all you don’t want to seem to keen!
Comments are a good thing whether its to compliment a good post, disagree or just present your opinion and personally I don’t think that it should be a capped exercise. If a post warrants a comment then comment regardless of how many times you have previously posted. Overcome the fear and you will find that commenting helps not only your confidence but also will help you connect with other bloggers, which can only be a benefit to your blog. As long as you have something decent to say then I am pretty sure that nobody will think you are a dick for leaving a comment!!!!
Photo Credit – LaughingSquid
Is this shyness a British phenomenon? Does it happen elsewhere in the world?
Love for someone outside the UK to add their thoughts here; then we can explain what ‘pecker’ means…
Its a great turn of phrase!! Thanks for the Comment Mr Mouseproud
I am more and more starting to see the importance of commenting on blogs. And besides that writing in general. How else can there be any form of interaction online.
I also never left comments on blogs before, although I many times wrote and just deleted it before hit publish. I always thought then ‘why bother’.
I either knew more than I did before I read the post, or I agreed or disagreed with it.
If I learned something I was not going to say just ‘thank you’, If I agreed I was not just saying ‘I agree’ and if I disagreed it was often so for from my own opinion that I did not see the point in writing my own opinion.
But while reading more and more blogs, I saw the value of the comments. On many posts the comments where just as valuable as the post itself.
Not the just ‘thank you’ or the ‘I agree’ or ‘I disagree’ ones, but the ones that had that, along with the why.
Why it helped and with what, why the agreement and on what part specific, why the disagreement what are the reasons for that.
So as a result I started to comment too. In the beginning just now and then, still deleting more then I hit publish (maybe I will delete this too) but slowly just getting more skilled in writing.
Because even the comments I delete (apart from the posts I write that just stay drafted) improve my writing.
It is not that I am afraid of writing (or that I am afraid of the big bad blog
but I always have the feeling I can not get across in words what I really mean to say.
But I found out along the way, even if I did get it into exactly the words I wanted, it still is far from likely that the other will understand it the way I meant.
So lately I am still thinking ‘why bother’ but more in the sense of why bother if these words reflect exactly what I mean to say. I can always adjust and give it another try in another post or another comment.
Hi & thanks for such a comprehensive comment! I agree with a lot of what you said. I think the biggest challenge with blogging is finding your voice and once you start to get amongst other blogs and bloggers you soon realise what your voice is and it becomes so much easier to write what you want to say.
Thanks again, Simon
Another enjoyable read from the next big thing in blogging.
Look out John Chow!
Thanks Paul although not sure about being the next John Chow!!!