The Power of Comments

So one powerful thing we can learn about social media is that the comments are powerful. They're a way to get more minds into the story. They're a way to annotate someone's thoughts such that the ideas can take on another dimension.

I envision a near future change to blogging software that will allow the best of the comments to be promoted to the main post, such that the post will be redistributed via RSS and the main page with the comments at the same level as the blog post.

So what do you think? What do you want to know about comments? How are you working with your audience to grow comments and conversation? Do they matter at all? Seth Godin doesn't have comments on his blog.

What's your take?

Hi Chris, I respect Seth Godin for switching off his comments - I think that's more transparent and considerate than the many, many blog site owners who don't reply to comments that people make. Including those who might reply to people who comment early doors, but not those who are maybe 12 - 24 hours after the post has gone up. What's that all about? Are comments only valuable if they're from readers who are hanging on your every breath?

Anyway, that's my take as far as being a blog commenter goes. Please reply to my comments!

As a blog owner, I love comments and do everything I can to encourage them - by leaving posts a little open, by replying to everyone, trying to get to know people a bit, being human and friendly - you know the score.

I'd love some blogging software that would help us promote the conversational exchanges though - the best material is often to be found there.

Joanna

PS Don't know about attention upgrade but your moving picture is doing something weird to my attention as I type this - feeling distinctly motion-sickness-queasy!

Comments are a form of intelligence gathering. You know how interested your audience is in participating if they leave comments, even if it's a "Yeah, me too!". Some blogs encourage comments, others don't, and not necessarily through overt policies as much as being niche topics. If you're reading an economics blog and don't know all that much about economics, you probably won't comment as often as, say, Nouriel Roubini, who will lay qualified, justified smackdown on any econ blog.

Comments are also a good metric for how keyword-rich your blog posts are. Spambots are programmed to try to leave spam comments (comspam? spomments?) based on keywords to maximize some schmuck's pay per click scheme. If you've got keyword rich content, you'll give your spam comment detector a good workout.

Hi Chris,

You said, "Just click on the comments button"

I was going to ask the very basic, "Which button is the comments button? I eventually clicked well enough to get here but rather doubt I could do it again. Who was it that warned about how our own knowledge can get in the way of getting our messages across clearly?

I am a huge fan of your work and have been somewhat in awe... I didn't think to comment until you challenged us to "step up to the plate".

What are the three biggest reasons people hesitate to participate in social networks, collaborative learning communities, etc? (besides FEAR)

I've started one recently in Japan - 32 members signed up in the first two weeks, but only three are posting, I can't figure out why?

Cheers,

Steve

Yeah - I love comments. I'm following your series of 100 posts, and this one is ingenious - let's see where it ends.

Having said that - let's have a look again.
I love comments as a blogger - the more comments the better.
As a reader I also read the comments on other blogs in most cases. However, some posts have a long list of comments, and in those cases I feel it is a bit hard to get the overview.

I guess some blog platforms have the possibility to make the comments "social", by eg ranking them? That is probably a good feature for blogs with many comments - have you looked into this?

(Me? I'm mainly using Blogger. It is still good enough for my needs, altough I can see some benefits with moving to another platform.)

And finally - any good tips to get your readers to leave a comment? I would love more comments on my blog...

I think comments are great, and I don't always feel the author needs to reply, especially to negative comments -- unless you have a rebuttal that'll further the conversation and not make you sound petty or overly defensive. If you're continuing the conversation, by all means, respond.

Also, I've always been a fan of bringing great comments and discussions up to the front by putting them in a new post and adding more comments. That way, it helps bring info up to the front and keeps it from getting buried in the comments.

For someone like me, who reads most blogs via RSS, though doesn't tend to subscribe to comments, unless it's a really important discussion, I would love some way to see the long tail of the blog conversation if it's particularly enlightening.

One of the sites that enthralled me a few years ago was the visual thesaurus site. For someone who loves words, seeing them floating in space, tied to each other by threads of meaning was uber-cool.

What would be equally uber-cool would be some sort of way of visualizing flows of thoughts and ideas around a concept online - a way of pulling (a la the much maligned Technorati) everything being said about a person, place, or thing together, but instead of long lists of posts, some sort of funky graphic representation of that.

Bob: I agree! I wish LinkedIn would offer that sort of Visual Thesaurus picture of my network!

Chris: Comments are great but I've found it hard to get any on either of my blogs. My personal and church planting blog, www.marcpitman.com, gets the most. People that know me personally comment once and a while. It's nicer than getting an elf thrown at me on Facebook!

What mystifies me is that my fundraising blog, http://www.fundraisingcoach.com/blog/, generates virtually no comments. I post an article every 2 weeks (and mini tidbits in between). Some are controversial, others aren't. But the comments seem to merely attract spam. (Thank God for Akismet!!)

True, 5 times more people get the bi-weekly article emailed to them as an ezine than read it on the blog. But still, I'd love to get the collective wisdom of my colleagues flowing.

So yes, comments seem a very untapped form of social networking.

It'd be cool to see an Amazon like voting system available to rate comments too.

Excellent idea, Chris. Blogs are blogs. Blogs with comments are conversations. The Seth Godins of the world may be too big to have conversations with their audiences and that's sad because it will lead to a disconnect from them. I still subscribe to Seth's feed, but seldom pay much mind to his posts because I know my opinion doesn't matter to him. He's not interested in allowing breadth and depth to his thoughts manufactured by the engagement with his audience.

I think anyone who is interested in conversations ... and some bloggers aren't ... should use Avinash Kaushik's (Occam's Razor) engagement factor as a goal: The comments on his blog have a higher average word count than his posts, and his posts are lengthy. While putting a numerical value on engagement is somewhat silly, there's an obvious level of conversation with that metric that is hard to attain.

I also feel that the comments section of my blog is often more important because I learn as much from my readers as any of them do from me. The learning is mutual and, thus, comments are neccessary. Without them, I don't want to blog because without them, all I get out of the experience is the egotistical pride in seeing something I wrote published on a website. And that's, frankly, not what I'm in it for.

Thank you for teaching us how to engage. I hope you, and your readers, will join my conversations as well.

A blog post centers around the author, but others, who either have questions, advice or can point out an example or relevant article can make the post more credible and real.

It's a way of opening up a dialog between you and those in your community, as a feedback mechanism or to get their voice heard.

Comments are a great things for blogs.

I'm a fairly new reader to your blog, but I've been enjoying it a great deal. I love comments and the more the better. I always try to answer everyone's comments.

There have been just a few times when I couldn't do individual responses, but I explained and thanked everyone all at once. I think it's bad blogetiquette to only answer some comments, unless there is a rule where only questions are answered or something like that.

I read something interesting on another blog recently where readers were talking about how it is very rude if someone leaves a smiley face as their only comment. I guess I never really thought about it or found it insulting, but it really sets some people off.

Comments show that we're moving into a new era -- Marketing 2.0. We're part of a conversation that didn't exist in years past. You, the authority (the blogger) actually encourage your audience to speak up...even if it's to argue with you.

For my blog, comments are pretty low. I'm not sure why. I've tried everything to engage my readers and get feedback, to no avail. I feel like I'm writing to a black hole, and I really want to know who my readers are! Any advice? You obviously have the whole commenting thing down pat!

Just a thought: does the type of blog play a part in the number of comments, perhaps.

Yours (Chris) is a Social Media blog. So the people who visit tend to be more into social media (I'd assume), and want to be a part of the conversation. In blogs of other fields (personal development, sports, etc), the audience might not be as participative.

What are your thoughts? Or do you think I'm completely off track here?

Comments are overrated or relatively pointless 99 percent of the time.

I think that Derrick makes a good point. Here is another thing to think about. Well first off Chris, I am a dedicated reader of your blog. With that said often times people use their social media outlets to talk about the blogs rather than commenting. I can think of numerous time i have wrote to you on twitter and just said Great article or nice videocast. So maybe it isnt so important that they are talking on your blog but more so ARE THEY TALKING AT ALL???
In my opinion it is better if it gets into an outlet because then everyone wants to know what the talk is about. Then they visit your blog and then go back to the outlet and talk some more and the trend continues. OR AM I WAY OFF???
I LOVE THIS DISCUSSION!

I think that Derrick makes a good point. Here is another thing to think about. Well first off Chris, I am a dedicated reader of your blog. With that said often times people use their social media outlets to talk about the blogs rather than commenting. I can think of numerous time i have wrote to you on twitter and just said Great article or nice video cast. So maybe it isn't so important that they are talking on your blog but more so... ARE THEY TALKING AT ALL???
In my opinion it is better if it gets into an outlet because then everyone wants to know what the talk is about. Then they visit your blog and then go back to the outlet and talk some more and the trend continues. OR AM I WAY OFF???
I LOVE THIS DISCUSSION!

I am quite new to blogging so I've only left a few comments to this point (including this one) :)

As much as I like posting, I enjoy conversation much more, and comments are a way to incite that.

The first thing I look for after reading an interesting post is the comments. The poster's point of view is important to the topic in question, but the comments will sometimes take a different spin which gets you thinking about things from another angle.

And Derrik does have a point. The flavour of the blog likely dictates whether people will bother to comment or not.

1.) Thus far, and for the foreseeable future, I don't blog. I comment.
2.) I can't stand blogs about blogs, and I don't comment about comments.
3.) This comment obviously violates #2. *shrug*

I am still wet behind the ears when it comes to being a blogger, but I've read blogs before they were even called blogs. I've also shared comments on website for many years so I also appreciated the opportunity to share my opinion on things.
Comments, as you well know, brings any blog alive and thus more "honest" and "authentic". What I mean by those terms is that the blogger's statements or theories are evaluated by others and thus either verified or rejected, providing different points of view, which only helps the reader and possibly even the author.
Commenting puts the social in the Social media and social networking.
I've always thought that blogs and wiki's should merge into a Bliki...allowing authors and readers to collaborate even more closely and effectively than either separate platforms.

Pai

I often wonder how I would deal with a bunch of comments on my blog http://eventsmedia.blogspot.com Luckily I get around 10-20 readers a day so I don't have to worry any time soon about this being a major time issue or life changing experience. But when I do get a comment, it is a small thrill at that the realization someone is actually reading my dribbles.
As for commenting on other blogs, I like joining the conversation but I don't like when their are too many comments. I also have this issue in face to face meetings. I like 2-5 people in a face to face meeting. Any more than that I loose track and it is info overload. This is probably my birth defect affliction of a gnat sized attention span. Wait, I saw something shiny I must go investigate....thanks for another great post Chris.

Comments are what make blogs the crown jewel of the social media movement.

Blogging has made it easier for people to publish to the web, especially the type of people who were to busy for it before (professionals, authors, CEOs, etc.) But comments take those people and make them fresh and accessible. It is one thing to read someone's "article" whether it be in TIME, the WSJ, or a static blog. But when comments are introduced so is a connection to that person and to something fresh. Then even if the article is a republished piece from the file cabinet - you are still getting a fresh and relevant response through interaction in the comments.

Allowing comments on blog posts are what changes them from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 - without the contribution from and interaction with readers, blogs are just another one-way publishing platform, like a newspaper or magazine.

Don't get me wrong - I like newspapers and magazines and I think that there is a place for all types of content - but comments are what caused blogs to flip the publishing model on its head. No longer can writers just put their content out there without being edited ... by their readers!

Comments are one of the best parts of a blog. It allows us to talk with people we would normally never get to talk to. It also allows us to express our thoughts on what it is they are talking about. And finally it just lets someone know you were there and to me that's just as big as the words they put down. Comments make the blog go round.

PS I still owe you a meme reply; I haven't forgot :)

I think comments are quite powerful. If your blog post is interesting and relevant enough to engage a reader to the point of commenting, and that reader takes time and effort to truly expand on the topic to be of benefit to other readers, then everyone wins.

If your blog is meant both to A. Get you clients, B. Get you ranking and C. Establish you as an authority on a given subject, then comments can certainly assist in all three of those areas.

In addition, you open up networking opportunities. I have MyBlogLog and Twitter on my blog - therefore, if a reader finds my blog and they're interested enough to follow me in other venues (especially if I don't blog often enough, LOL) the opportunity to build relationships with like minded bloggers is there.

I found this blog today via a Twitter - so I think that proves my point! I am now a subscriber!

Wow, so much smart feedback here. And that's the best thing about comments - it's a true feel for the pulse of something. I know that when I read any of the gawker media sites, as I evaluate their posts, I look through all of their comments first to see which way the pendulum is swinging. In essence, often to me, the stand a blogger takes in a post can matter less to me than the majority opinion as stated in the comments. How's that for a shift in media?

I have to admit that I don't read many comments on blogs. I find them hard to follow, because there are usually so many in a single thread.

That said, I've followed LiveJournal blogs with comments for years, simply because of the fact that they thread the conversation. It's possible to follow the branches of the conversation, and reply to the different steps as you go.

Once we get a WP plug-in that'll give you clean threaded conversations, I think we'll be reaching Marketing 2.0. Until then, we're still playing at shouting in a room.

Comments are interesting, and sometimes useful, but I'm not sure that they are a good measure of anything other than the desire of your readers to write something. One of the most difficult things about blogging is that it exists in an on-line universe. I have written posts that garnered no comments, but found out later from actually TALKING to people that they really enjoyed the post and told their friends about it.

The Internet gives us the ability to measure all kinds of cool stats and metrics except one-- it can't measure real, actual, verbal conversation and subsequent actions.

The more and more I blog and participate in social networks, the more and more I find that while there are a lot of important and interesting conversations going on there, those conversations are merely jumping-off points for the most important conversations-- those taking place off-line.

Another great example of reader participation, and growing not only the conversation, but the community Chris. Similar but different than Jeremiah Owyang's post last week on Twitter & conversations - a great way to gain involvement from your readers.

What I find interesting is how the simple post you started with, has brought out so many interesting ideas and points of view about comments and blogger/reader interaction. These are the things that bloggers love to see, especially for me as I explore the social media space that we all seem to be interested in.

While some may disable comments, most do enable them for this very purpose. To learn from their readers, hear what perspectives people have on your work, and share those pieces of knowledge. It continues to amaze me how the simplest of posts can bring out the most involvement from people.

Great post Chris!

Regards,
Rick

Writing, whether a blog or a comment on a blog, do not come easily to most people. They've been trained since an early age to be a consumer of information; sharing or joining the conversation is still relatively new. It's a dramatic shift for many.

My sense is that people feel like they need to say something prophetic in a blog or comment and that barrier is too high for people to engage. They don't know it's ok to just say "thanks for the great post" (if that's all that comes to mind). I feel that way sometimes. Geoff Livingston asked for comments on a blog post yesterday (ahead of the Social Media Breakfast this morning), and though I had some ideas, I just couldn't dedicate time to put "pen to paper."

Anyhow, thanks for the post (and comment) Chris. Looking forward to hearing more about what people think here.

@Joanna- it's really hard to comment all the time on everyone's ideas, but I try to stay up on them where I can. I'm blessed with an active gang, so weighing a response all the time turns out to be hard to scale. Instead, I try to pipe in where I can, and make sure folks know that they matter.

@Christopher Penn- I'm smirking about "spomments," but I agree. It's definitely something that helps one measure HOW folks are finding the mother ship.

@Steve- one of the fastest ways to drive better participation is to talk about things where people feel like they have some expertise. In this case, it's a fairly low barrier to entry for people to comment, because all I've asked is what someone's opinion on comments are. You can extrapolate that into how to drive more awareness of things that matter to you and your audience.

@Johan- a few ideas. One is the sort of "quid pro quo" of commenting on someone else's blog. That sometimes helps people cross over. Another is posing your posts such that there are useful follow-on questions to be had. Another is to invite comments by asking further questions via things like Twitter or Facebook, or finding groups that might have that topic near and dear to their heart.

@Francine- I like that idea, of turning comments into a follow-on post. That's also a good way to get more content, for those who maybe don't have as many topics at hand as they'd like.

@Bob- visualizing data is SO the next big wave of technologies worth considering. As a consumer product, it's still very primitive, but I've seen some work going on to try and make something useful in that field. If I find something, I'll let you know, and vice versa?

@Marc- as I said above, it's easier to get comments back if you're soliciting them as part of the post. In lots of ways, I reach out on almost every post asking YOU to be the expert at hand.

@Jason- I love that, the higher average word count be in the comments. That's brilliant! Liz Strauss does a lot of comment work at her blog, and she's a true superhero of that space.

@Dan - How do you elicit comments for your site?

@Anali- Interesting. I guess I wouldn't mind a smiley face. I think in some cases, it *could* be link-baiting, if the person fills out the URL and all that. It might be a way to get people to click through to see who posted the smiley. But is that me being cynical?

@Susan- I have two answers I give as "pat" answers to this. #1) I ask the folks who give me their attention for their advice and opinions often. #2.) I make it real easy to comment. (No Capcha, etc.) Those two things are my only real tricks, such as they are. They seem to work, and I'm blessed for that.

@Derrick - good point, but then here's the rub. I believe this. EVERYBODY has an opinion. The question becomes how willing are they to share it. Example: if I ever read an economics blog, I'd never comment. Too afraid I'd be wrong. If I went to a gourmet chef blog, I'd sound stupid writing back. But someone talking about stupid finance tips might get comments because the 'barrier to feeling stupid' is lower.

@KC - that seems so self-referential, and yet, you have a point.

@Brian- every time the conversation slips into Twitter, it floats away on a stream. If it's on a blog or similar technology, it's at least there. For example, folks should use MyChingo for audio commenting. It's got a great interface, stores the messages, and gives you a voice record. But just having the comments out there is a great way to keep the conversation preserved.

@Gorgeous- glad to have you here and talking. And you're right. Most times, what folks put HERE is better than what I write up there.

@Rick- stop commenting about comments about blogs, or whatever. : ) I see your point.

@Paisano- I was going to growl about the word "bliki," and complain if it takes off, but Google sees about 360,000 responses for it. Oy. But you're right. There needs to be a juicy mash in there. I think. For some applications.

@Mike- interesting, so seeing lots of comments makes you shy away from wanting to comment? Sometimes I feel like that on a TechCrunch or a Scoble post, but for a different reason. I figure everyone's already seen the post, had their say, and moved on. It's hard to keep the conversation alive over a series of days. (In fact, I just gave myself a business idea, but have to think about that). So I see your point.

@Tony- you just made me realize one reason why I like comments. It's a gesture. It means, to me, that the publisher at least acts as if they want my opinion.

@Melissa- a world without editorial and journalistic power would be a bit scary. Back to the hearsay universe of pamphleteers, and we aren't that far removed from them in our blogging world. So you're right that comments are a good thing, and you're right that the readers are now part of the editorial process, but I still seek the best of curators to make the system really sing.

----

After replying to just about every comment, I saw two or three more come in. I'll wait to respond to those. : )

I like to think of comments as a measurement of how good a job I'm doing...even though it probably has nothing at all to do with that. If a post that I think is funny has no comments, then I feel like it must not be very good. Maybe I'm just needy...
My friends and I have written some pretty funny stuff and gotten zero comments and then we'll post something that isn't that funny and it gets a few. Maybe it's just our audience. The worst part is that we're trying to get the site to a point that we can monetize it and when we see that no one is commenting, it's like staring up a huge mountain that we feel we can't climb.
Funny side note: my site is called Average-Dudes and probably 95% of our comments are from girls. I still can't quite figure that one out.

If I had written Jane Eyre today, I'd have to factor in the speed and activity of comments! Relationships will never be the same as in the old days.

Another thing comments does, for me, is it reminds me to go spend time on other people's sites and see what they're doing. For instance, I remember browsing the Average Dudes site a few days ago, but realized I didn't really form an opinion. Now? I'm going to go over there and look around.

Ditto a few other friends who I've not checked in on in a while.

That's a nice powerful thing about comments. They give link bridges between what I'm talking about and what you're talking about, so that inquiring types might come by and take a perusal.

YOU, you there, reading this comment. Go up about seven or eight or whatever, and see if you're compelled to follow someone's link through to their site to see what THEY are interested in.

Because the power of what we're doing here is linking shared interests, and that in the aggregate, we can learn more about more things by sliding across all these various places. Right?

Comments matter.

Comments can be made on my own blog, not necessarily on yours. (Can't you tell I'm on a Seth Godin bandwagon?!)

Comments are NOT a measure of blog influence.

Comments are nice for traffic.

Comments can be a pain to moderate.

Comments aren't conversation, more like commentary.

Comments are made by 10% or less of blog readers (even loyal ones).

So WHY do comments matter?

:-)

All success
Dr.Mani

P.S. - Enjoyed the 'spomments' label, not the effect!

I asked this some days back:

Do YOU Measure Blog Influence by ‘Comments’ - Or ‘Audience’?

http://moneypowerwisdom.com/do-you-measure-blog...

Dr.Mani

Ehlo,

Comments create the two way dialogue. Dialogues=conversations.

While, some people blog to be read, and as someone pointed out in a previous comment, those boggers don't interact with their audience.

Others blog to conversate. Bloggers may drive the conversation, but participants do as well.

What's a blog without a dialogue? An online poduim, an online news source? Both, but not a conversation.

Ever listened to a radio show without call-ins? It's an interview.

It's much more interesting when callers engage the conversation and I think the same is true for bloggers--- plus you never know what one comment can add to the conversation to drive it forward.

Comments are the voice of participation.

I find myself reading lots of blogs, but rarely comment. So you have inspired me to be better about it. At the moment I have two blogs off my site, and am in the process of joining the two together, or at least I think I will. So far, my experience is nobody comments, but for me that is ok, it seems to be more about reflection for me.

I find Twitter a better source on commenting. I check out a resource and then comment. I love Twitter for the right now stuff!! I guess I will post a link in Twitter if I want folks to comment on something in my blog and hope followers see it and respond.

comments are not the only measure of success of a blog, and not all blogs need comments.

Chris' blog is a fertile comment ground because the people who read the blog are social media extrovert, and Chris always writes about topics that are open-ended conversation starters, hence the large number of comments.

First, it was nice to meet you at the SMB this morning Chris. Did you sneak off with a bottle of vinegar?

Second, what I just wrote above is an example of the value that I find in comments. They are a way for the blogger and reader to build their relationship.

The reason that I don't read many blog comments is because I don't have any kind of relationship with the writer. I don't have the context about the comment writer that I do for the blog poster.
That said, comments can be a good source of discovery, I did click through a few links in this list.

I agree with everyone's perspective on comments because it's just that their perspective.

IRL as well as online, I am the type of person who needs to hear what others think about a subject, their opinions, their emotions; something other than what I think, feel about it. It helps for me to form a well-rounded, more informed decision. Because I know myself, I know that my way of thinking has its limits...I need others to help me to see it another way. Not to agree or be swayed, but to understand and appreciate that there are other ways of seeing the same thing, there are other ways of reaching a common goal.

Aloha,
"NEENZ"
InfinityPro.

Well comments are all well and good if you get a lot of them. What if you have a really passive audience or you're like me and have little to no audience?

The whole point of putting my artwork on the web was to open a direct line of communication with my audience, but so far I still have to beg for comments on twitter. Begging sucks.

@Bob LeDrew & @chrisbrogan - I like the idea of having some kind of graphical representation of all the ideas and thoughts out there on the web. Jonathan Harris (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/144) has created some compelling applications that do just that by giving the data on the web visual representation. Visit these two projects to see what the web's visual footprint looks like, they are fascinating and I would love it if this was the model for the future of how we visualize data online:

We Feel Fine-
http://www.wefeelfine.org/

Universe-
http://universe.daylife.com/

Nice concept, Chris.

Will you be doing a post on trackbacks too...

I think Dr. Johnny Fever said it best on WKRP as he was demoted to late night DJ spinning tunes asking the question bloggers ask all the time "is there anybody out there?".

Comments are important validation and great inspiration to visit other sites.

When done well, they add to the content already posted. They provide different avenues of thought or information. They add flavour and colour. Pehraps they even provide an intelligent contradiction. Sometimes they stimulate more people to chime in and add to the discussion.

When done poorly, they become an echo chamber of "me too", are lazy adds that are meaningless, are fame whoring and in my current case, spam.

Overall, I believe comments are a sign of a healthy site but not the end all and be all. I've personally have a number of passionate fans for my blog that eventually became clients as a direct result of my blog posts and yet, never left a comment.

Great idea!

Posting on blogs is one of the strategies I used to make my blog the 8th FASTEST GROWING blog out of 1.3 million on Wordpress. This tip, and 7 other ways to grow your blog can be found here:

http://martyfahncke.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/8-...

Some thoughts on comments:

> It is in the comments that conversations take place.

> Some blogs exist to foster conversations, others to broadcast information.

> If the intent of the blog is to foster conversation, it is important that the author of the blog be engaged in the conversation by joining it in the form of replies related to key points (realizing that it may be impossible to reply to all posts.)

> If the intent of the blog is mainly to distribute information rather than to engage in conversation about the information (or to spur conversation elsewhere,) a comment feature isn't necessary.

> As mentioned by others, a graphic representation of the relationship of conversations among blogs would be helpful, as would combining the RSS feeds for posts and comments.

> Comments can be a valuable form of research and enable blog authors to identify issues and ideas that might otherwise go unnoticed.

> Making a post of just comments was a super idea, Chris!

For my various blog projects, I often don't comment back, if the post is sort of a "Thanks for this!" or "Enjoyed the post" type of thing- if the comment extends the conversation, then it's natural to respond.

I am not shy about leaving comments, but I try to wait until I have something meaningful to add, or something I feel passionate about before dropping my two cents into the mix.

I love this conversation about comments, and the ability to foster them by just out and out asking people to contribute- that is a great way to break the ice, so to speak.

I'm totally on the same page as whitney. Commenting just to comment is pointless (for me), if I'm not going to add value to the conversation then I'm comfortable with just being a reader/observer.

I read a ton of blogs and find myself incredibly engaged in many different discussions or topics. I find it daunting though to read through an enormously long list of comments, but I usually do it if the subject matter is compelling enough and if I want to comment. My logic is that I should know what other people are saying before I put in my 2 cents; I feel obligated to leave informed comments. Sometimes this turns the time I allot for blog reading into hours, but I suppose that is my own time management issue. Is there a rule of thumb around the percent of comments to read before commenting yourself? (I think I read about 75% of the comments here and that took at least 15 min.)

I tend to disengage from blogs that don't allow commenting. If I'm going to take the time to read the post and, if I find I have something to say in response, I love to post a comment. I really don't get Seth's logic at all.

(Though I tend to agree with Jenn about reading all comments before adding your own - there just isn't enough hours in the day to do so. I need to go back and review the section in Tim Ferriss' book on speed-reading!)

Chris, your new blogging concept is brilliant! Such a win for everyone - along with synthesizing the voices and perspectives of your community, it'd be like collaboratively raising visibility.

In my opinion comments make a Blog a participative conversation and instant feedback. Many times I will look at the post and the comments without commenting myself. In terms of measurement they do indicate that the post was interesting enough for the person to comment.

Brands and corporations maybe cautious in comments and may prefer to get their feedback in email rather than comments (Example:Google Blogs). In the later case I would all it a 2 way conversation but in private - as along as they responded to every email.

Gosh, I had no idea that everyone took blog-commenting so seriously! I mean hey, I love comments as much as the next guy, but whether I get 30 or 15 or 3 doesn't matter to me all that much. Some posts inspire 'conversation', some inspire people to leave smart-ass remarks (which, naturally, I love because those're the kind I typically leave for others)...sometimes I answer comments IN the comments, sometimes I answer a couple of them only, sometimes (especially for new commenters) I'll send a quick email.
Sometimes I do none of the above.
If people are interested or entertained by what you have to say, they'll be back. I don't think it's at all rude NOT to answer the commenters.

I AM more likely to pay a return visit to someone who leaves me a good comment, especially if they make me laugh.
I leave comments here and there, and I have a small core group of 'blog-friends' that I visit nearly every day and usually leave a comment with them.

I could care less how many "hits" I get per day, but then again I don't do any advertising and I'm not trying to do any market research. But what's the good of striving to get 10,000 hits each day when you get no comments or feedback?
I guess it's good for marketing & advertising, but I typically stay away from those types of blogs because 8 out of 10 of 'em bore the ever-lovin' crap out of me.

Chris, I love comments. The idea behind my new blog was all about creating community. You and I spoke about this when I first began the project.

I too find that a small percentage of people actually participate. Many visitors are happy reading, but not commenting.

I think that's natural.

This same thing happens in life. Someone steps up to a group of people to listen in, but then smiles the whole time and doesn't participate.

A plugin I especially like is the "subscribe to comments" which allows people to

1. subscribe anonymously via email and be alerted to new comments and

2. enter a post and then subscribe so that they can continue with their original participation much like having a conversation

in reply to Jenn (#46), I read about 20% of the comments at the top and then the last 4 or 5 at the bottom.

As with you, it's my own time management thing. If the post is good, and the original comments compelling, I read.

comment length is also an issue.

I love receiving comments, mostly because I'd rather have a conversation than dictating to an audience.
I like leaving comments when something moves me in a profound way. The one thing that I can't bring myself to do is leave "me too" comments. Not often, not unless I want my thoughts visible to the person writing because I really strongly agree with their points.

Then I'm trained to that point of view by a virtual community that had to pay attention to server space and discouraged me too comments often.

Should "me too" comments be posted or withheld? When we're having a face to face conversation are my thoughts important if someone else has already voiced my thoughts for the most part?

This comment conversation reminds me of my radio days. When I was doing contests (caller 10 wins a $100), or call-in's (tell me about the wild critter you've caught in your house)...I knew that a very small percentage of our listeners would actually participate.

Research shows that well under 10% of a station's listeners will participate. The majority of listeners just prefer to listen, even if it means listening to someone else win, or to someone else's story. They are entertained without being part of the entertainment.

I think the same thing goes for blogs. The majority of our viewers, just like to view. They like to read our content, and the comments left by others, and that's it!

That is....unless you are viewing this blog!

[since I am still trying to understand how best to be part of the conversation, I am cross posting this comment here, and on my blog post about commenting (link above)

Chris, while my post wasnt an anti-comments post, it was a question on how best to engage and grow the conversation from a single blog post. Comments, by definition stay on one site. I linked to your site, which prompted you to comment on mine. Perhaps someone will read your comment and write a post, or comment here, and then the story begins to grow. Dont you think there is value in that? I would rather include as many people and brains in a conversation, versus having the conversation be between one dude sitting on a hill, and a bunch of others talking to him.

Its one of the things I like about lijit (I swear not a pitch, even though I work there!). It allows me to see what my friends and their friends are writing about a particular topic, and join in the conversation by either writing a post or commenting.

Make sense? Or am I high on Christmas Spirit?

I think this is quite a creative approach to involving people in blogging. Please submit this to the Active Learning Blog Carnival http://activelearningcarnival.blogspot.com/. Submit by going to http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_2804.html.

xOZVfX Hi! Nice site! Where is a add to favorite button& ;)
http://www.mysite.com

Comments are gravy. In my early blogging days, just writing posts was enough for me. I wondered about the public, but it was okay, I didn't need comments, but after a while it felt lonely and it was great when someone did mention that they read my blog.
Slowly, becoming connected to writing networks has brought me to more blogs. I leave comments, I get comments back. It seems to take time and patience. I agree with some of the comments that have come before me. You have to leave comments to get them. And since I've been part of this challenge I am thinking about how to build rich conversations.
Bonnie

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