Recent Blog Entries
Great Blog Traits: Audience Participation
Written by Scrivs on April 27, 2006
When I say “audience participation” I don’t mean how well people comment on your site or if anyone even comments on your site, I am talking about how well you interact with the people who do decide to participate on your site. Having no comments is one thing (not a bad thing at all since some subjects lend themselves better to discussions than others), but having 10 comments and the discussion dies repeatedly because you refuse to participate in it is another thing.
Now this isn’t really something we notice when we are evaluating sites, but it is something you should be aware of when running your own site. It takes time and effort for people to leave comments and it’s a good feeling when the owner of the site responds to what you have to say. Admittedly you reach a point where you can’t address every single comment, but that doesn’t give you the right to drop out of the conversation completely.
Right when you receive your first comment your site becomes a community site. Sure you run it and dictate it, but you need to keep the community happy and hopefully you having discussions with your readers will make you happy as well.
April 27th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
You bring up a good point Scrivs. Your site is read by others and hopefully a discussion is generated by your post therefore it is your obligation as the owner to participate in the discussion if only to provide clarification or answer questions on what you had written.
April 27th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Discussion with readers is a full 1/2 of why I blog. The other half is to write and the last half is to discuss with stuff with readers. Oh…wait…
April 27th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
You Ben are probably the best about responding to your comments. Where did you find all of your readers?
April 27th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
I don’t know! I write, they come. It’s so freakin’ weird. Several of them I know personally, actually…*counting*…there are 5 I know personally. The others I’ve met elsewhere.
April 27th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
Don’t take the “freakin’ weird” comment to mean that I’m disappointed though, it makes me happy to interact with so many people from different walks of life.
April 27th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
What can I say Ben. Maybe you’re just a great guy. Gosh what do I like about blogging. I like to sit back after a post and see how cool it looks. Sorry thought I would just share a thought.
April 29th, 2006 at 10:54 am
A good example of this is David W Boles’ blog. Though he closed one comment thread when people started disagreeing!
April 30th, 2006 at 4:56 am
[...] I’m sure you’ll prove me wrong in the comments If Scrivs is to be believed a sign of a great [...]
April 30th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
It’s about time someone voice this. I read too many blog entries about “my blog is mine, I blog for myself, I don’t need to pay attention to comments” and even some that talk about removing comments altogether and even claim that “most comments do not contribute anything useful.” I really despise that kind of talk; it makes the user feel cheap and unappreciated, and takes away from any sense of honesty or transparency the blogger is trying to convey. I know there are some blogs that are very successful without following this advice, but most blogs are better because of the discussion, not just the initial entries.
April 30th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
I agree completely with your thoughts! However, how many commenters happen to be one-time visitors to your blog and will never think or know to come back and see that you’ve responded to their comment? What tools are out there for email notification to commenters when you comment back to them?
I use Typepad and would love to see each entry becoming more of an ongoing forum. Most blog services force you to click into comments and then scroll all the way down to read them all. Threaded comments, subscriptions, and other features would create more community in everyone’s blogs!
April 30th, 2006 at 11:06 pm
There are many blog readers out there who haven’t embraced commenting as a form of online conversation. I agree with Jeff in that there needs to be something done about the comments interface and layout on blogs to try and involve the readership to a greater extent. Maybe the emergence of Ajax will throw up some new and innovative ways of commenting.
May 1st, 2006 at 9:32 am
Jeff: One thing I do is have a “subscribe to follow-up comments” option on my single posts. I also have the standard “rss feed for comments on this post” option but I find many people don’t want to use that as much as they want to be emailed when a new comment has been posted. Personally, I think it’s a terrific option.
May 2nd, 2006 at 11:48 am
Great idea on the subscribe to follow-up comments… But still not integrated into the overall graphical interface. A good work around but still not what will make blogs truly interactive.
How do you do the subscription-based comments?
I use Typepad…
May 3rd, 2006 at 2:35 pm
I’m not sure what you mean, Jeff. If you look at my blog, view a single post and look at the comment form. If a first time visitor “just passing through” happens to leave a comment they can check the little box that says, “Notify me of follow up comments via email.” That sounds exactly like what you’re wanting. In my view, that’s about as interactive as a blog can get with current technology. Am I misunderstanding you?
May 6th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Now if 9rules followed its own “suggestions” Scrivs would reply to this..
May 8th, 2006 at 6:51 pm
[...] have all it takes to become a member here. Although Paul Scrivens has blogged extensively about what we are looking for, I’ll give it a whirl once more. Yo [...]
May 10th, 2006 at 8:00 am
Valuable post and comment-stream on this topic. I originally responded to every comment on my site, using the blog itself as the entire conversation. But what I noticed over time was that when I emailed the person directly — an actual customized conversation — that authentic relationships formed over time. Some of my ‘casual visitors’ have become trusted friends. I’ve visited several in distant cities after early conversations turned into business opportunities and friendships. I regularly Skype blog-visitors in far-off countries. And on a daily basis, I receive countless post-suggestions, links, and other ideas from blog visitors, all of which I respond to on a personal email/phonecall basis.
Thus, over time, the comment section has become a way to spark a longer conversatino, even if I do not tend to reply directly to the comments themselves. Should I? Perhaps. But truth be told, if it’s about quality rather than rules, than I’m hanging onto my little theory…and continuing to build sustained relationships that extend beyond the blog comment stream.
Again, great post. Great provocation. Great insights. And yes, great comments. Thankful for all of the above.
May 15th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
[...] you need to be accepted. 9rules take various things into account: consistency, design, and audience participation. In my opinion, I’m fairly consistent, and [...]