How important are comments?
Writing a blog and not getting comments is a bit like hosting a party and having no one show up.
If comments weren’t important, I guess bloggers would just build a bunch of static HTML pages and knock themselves out.
From a personal perspective, getting a comment is a bit like receiving a present – I feel like clapping and dancing with delight!
However, you’ll notice the scarcity of comments on my posts. I’ve received maybe eight comments since I started The Monstress back on 4 July.
Does no one read my blog? How can that be when people tell me/text me/email me/message me often about how they enjoy my blog or a particular post?
To answer this quandary, I considered my own behavior when interacting with blogs that I either stumble across or subscribe to. I realised I rarely leave comments.
I believe comments add life and a sense of community to a blog. I’m pretty good at writing down what I think. But, when it comes to commenting on what a blogger wrote, I often don’t commit. I might start to write something and then I leave without posting it.
Sometimes, I’m worried what I say will seem stupid, sometimes I think what the blogger has written covers the topic so completely there’s nothing left to contribute and sometimes I need time to wrap my head around what they’ve written and maybe consider some other perspectives before I form my own opinion.
I rarely consider the blogger’s perspective – that they are putting themselves out there, naked and vulnerable, hoping their words and pictures aren’t just floating off in to the empty ether.
But I will from now on.
Image: Francesco Marino
Sometimes a blog sums up something so nicely that a reader will think, "I cannot put anything that will do that justice" Have you ever considered that Monstress?
ReplyDeleteAh, Molly... You'll just have to work harder at your comments then. :-P
ReplyDelete