My experience in blogging is only a blog I wrote last semester for my English class. The blog was the final stages to a research paper. Our assignment did not require any blog commenting; therefore, I limited mine to only my thoughts and citations used. I was not aware of the importance of posting comments, but I did feel like my blog was seriously lacking something without any comments at all.
Up until recently I thought that commenting on blogs was only important because commenting allows the author to feel a sense of success in the posts popularity. Sure it is nice to also be able to hear others thoughts on a blog’s posts, but I still believed the main concern for commenting was to produce traffic through the blog site.
Traffic, a sign of site popularity, is not the most important thing. A blog called Dosh Dosh goes into specific reasons as to why just looking for marketing strategies through commenting is a bad idea. There was actually someone who commented on this blog as well as others using the same generic post with links to his or her own site. Dosh Dosh found out what that person was doing and blogged about it, hurting his or her blogging reputation rather than helping it.
Commenting should be a tool used to gain lasting friends, networking, through blogging. Some sites are very influential, and by commenting earnestly on to those influential people’s posts, bloggers can gain those influential people as active followers. Having those influential people as followers, allows bloggers to have more opportunities in the long run because of the respectful bond that was made.
Networking connections made through thoughtful active comments give many benefits to bloggers. For example people can move up in their business or even possibly find jobs by networking with people through blogging. There needs to be respect gained from thoughtful commenting just as respect is gained through face to face friendship interactions. However, commenting allows people to have more unique relationships because of the permanency of those comments. Other people can view the friendship connections for years to come just by using search engines. I have realized that commenting has much greater effects on blogging and should not be taken for granted or misused.
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May 28, 2010 at 3:34 AM
natbaldwin
I agree with many of the points you have made about commenting on blogs. I really need help with this blogging thing we are doing. It is very easy to say it is not going well with me. Your blog helped me wanting to broaden my education on blogging and really put it to use while I have the opportunity to help the community to grow. Also, Briana thanks for your tips about the links so it can be easier for other bloggers to gain information as well. Comments help build relationships with not just one person, but many if people give credible comments.
May 28, 2010 at 1:34 PM
jotsimmspr
I know exactly how you feel when it comes the lack of comments. I have written in online journals before and sometimes it is hard when you don’t have that feedback even when its for a class. I just wrote my first post for topic of the week and I found a pleasant surprised that someone actually commented on my blog when I wasn’t expecting a comment at all. Her feedback was useful and points from her post made me feel like she did read what I wrote about.
I do see some posts that are recycled in the blog community from time to time in order to create popularity for themselves, but I agree commenting creates many benefits and its very important to allow comments from genuine people for better networking since we are going into a profession that networking is one the key things to success.
May 30, 2010 at 6:16 PM
Brianna W
It does feel good to see comments, and have someone agree. You should really look at the blog I wrote about. From your comment, I think you would find many of the posts very interesting.
May 28, 2010 at 1:40 PM
Blog Comments « Aspiring PR Blogger
[…] Comment #1 05/28/10 TOW 2:Why Comment? By Brianna Wagenbrenner […]
May 28, 2010 at 2:25 PM
jd02319
This is pretty cool. I like your explanations of why people should comment. Through my “research”, I have come to the same conclusions. Commenting is a great way to connect with other people. It allows you to express your views and talk to people who agree or maybe even disagree with you. It’s fun and interactive! It also can give great feedback to the blog. Comments can help us bloggers fix things that may not work so well for our users to better service them. I really hope that commenting on blogs can help career-wise too! I guess we’ll just have to see!
-Jessica Dennis
May 28, 2010 at 2:29 PM
Blog Comments of the Week :) « Jes' Blog
[…] Brianna Wagenbrenner’s Why Comment? This is pretty cool. I like your explanations of why people should comment. Through my “research”, I have come to the same conclusions. Commenting is a great way to connect with other people. It allows you to express your views and talk to people who agree or maybe even disagree with you. It’s fun and interactive! It also can give great feedback to the blog. Comments can help us bloggers fix things that may not work so well for our users to better service them. I really hope that commenting on blogs can help career-wise too! I guess we’ll just have to see! May 28, 2010 jd02319 Categories: Blog Comments […]