Today i bring to you a piece from a fellow book blogger Joan, who kindly agreed to do a guest post on my page. It’s something many bloggers can relate to. I know myself that i’m guilty of not commenting more and simply clicking like.. *Note to self.. must try harder to comment*
I hope you enjoy Joan’s post and recommend you check out her reviews. We may not read the same genres/books but i very much enjoy her reviews. Insightful and honest.. just like i aim my own reviews to be.
Firstly, I would like to say thank you to David for the very kind offer of guest posting in his blog. My name is Joan and I am a book blogger. I’ve been reviewing books for less than a year, but I’ve been a reader all my life. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you!
A few days ago, I noticed that people are worrying over comments and the lack thereof. I looked back on my own blog and realized that the number of views I got was highly disproportional to the comments that I received. I think this might be the case for mostly everyone, but the difference is too great that I got curious.
As someone who loves commenting and receiving comments in return, I believe that commenting should not be a ‘lost art’. Bloggers love talking to each other, but we don’t usually utilize this classic tool for communicating online.
Why is this so?
I ran a poll on Twitter to find out why bloggers don’t leave comments on the blogs they read or why they find it difficult to reply to their readers. Based on the survey, here are the results:
25% are too busy to reply immediately or just don’t have enough time to reply to posts.
8% would rather use Twitter to share their thoughts. Twitter is convenient and you immediately get a response back from the other person, given they are online.
50% have nothing to say. I admit I feel this way sometimes. I go read a post, nod in agreement, and hit that like button. I feel like that basically sums up what I thought of the topic.
17% specified other reasons. It may be because they are undergoing a personal struggle or were preoccupied with something so their thoughts are somewhere else.
Sometimes, these factors are out of our control. In this era of convenience and time efficiency, has commenting become a lost art? It’s not really our responsibility to leave a comment on every blog that we visit, but maybe we can also take a moment to remember its benefits.
Comments help connect the writer to their readers. This is basically what the commenting system is for, right? We might have minimal to say, but trust me when I say that I still want to hear it. Even if you think you are just parroting other people’s opinions, it’s important to add your voice into the mix. Once, I left a reply on a blogger’s post and it turned into a fascinating discussion from one topic to another. That was fun, and I found myself thinking so this is how it feels like to ignite a thoughtful conversation online.
Since I decided to participate in Nori’s Commenting Challenge, I’ve been working hard on discovering new blogs. If I comment on 1 blog a day, that’s still 365 comments within a year, which is not so bad. That comment could have made someone’s day brighter or gained you a new follower. I also try to make my comments specific and open-ended whenever I can, so that the talking doesn’t just stop with a single reply.
Furthermore, I allow an hour to blogging everyday. Sometimes, I write my own posts while other times I go online for the sole purpose of blog hopping (plus commenting). I always try to make sure I comment back on every reply I get or try to visit my readers’ blogs. This is relatively easy for me since my blog is small, so if yours is massive then I imagine this is a daunting task.
What about you? What are your thoughts about commenting? Do you think it’s necessary or would you prefer to speak to your readers using a different platform?
To find out more about Joan and Fiddler Blue check out the links below
Blog: http://fiddlerblue.wordpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fiddler_blue
David's Book Blurg 
Thank you for the invite David! 🙂
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No, thank you 🙂
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Guilty. I try to comment, but sometimes it depends on the blog. If you are blogging about make up brushes, I may like it but don’t feel the need to comment on it as I have no opinion on it. I like your idea of devoting a block of time to support my other bloggers. Good post!
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I agree, I think sometimes the writer already said everything we want to say and we just don’t have anything else to add, so a simple “like” suffices. Thank you!
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Interesting post! I’m guilty of hitting like, mostly because I don’t have anything extra to add.
If someone comments on my blog I do my very best to reply and also go and visit their blog. The blogs I have the most problems with are those on Blogger; I don’t find their comments system very easy and quite often have given up and left.
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I have the same problem with Blogger sites. I found it easiest to comment (and I read several bloggers saying the same thing) when they use Disqus or CommentLuv. Those plug ins make it simpler to reply whether they use Blogger or WordPress. 🙂 and thank you!
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I always reply if someone comments on my blog, I think it’s just good manners, but also that’s why I wrote the post – to communicate with others that are interested. I probably could comment a bit more on others blogs, but I find that joining linkys is helpful for that. You comment and they comment.
Great post, I hope it encourages bloggers and readers to keep commenting.
Amanda.
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I agree! The purpose of a post is to bring people together and communicate. Thank you so much and I hope it does help!
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I probably comment on blogs on a 1/20 read for all the reasons listed above.
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I do that too, and I thought I was alone in this. 🙂
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I enjoy commenting, although can’t say I do it regularly, but often these days I’m put off by no one else commenting – wondering do people actually want me to comment? (Especially if I have commented before)
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Aw I think most bloggers LOVE to receive comments, but they are either too busy or they forget to hit that reply button XD Don’t get discouraged though! 🙂
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funnily enough I’v been commenting a LOT tonight!
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I must admit I’ve enjoyed reading so many comments :).. it’s about time i added my own.
Honestly it’s usually comes down to not having anything useful to add to a discussion. I like a lot of reviews but they aren’t books I’ve read, i’m liking the review itself.. If it’s a book I’ve read before or have in my TBR i always try and leave a comment to give my take on things.
Sometimes it comes down to time also. I have two little ones at home… it’s far easier to click like or share than trying to think of something constructive to write while being jumped on ha ha
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Oh also.. I love having comments on my blog. Even if it’s just “Great Post”. To actually know someone out there has appreciated what I’ve wrote is a massive buzz for me as a reviewer
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There are times during the week when I have zero time to read blogs, much less comment on them. Unfortunately work, family and running (which takes up a lot of time), will take precedence over sitting at the computer. I do catch up on the weekends though. So, I totally get why people don’t have time to comment.
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Found your blog through the discussion link up 🙂 The biggest reason why I’ve come back to the book blogging world (I just started a new blog last month, after deleting my old book blog and taking a year off from the whole thing), is the comments/commenting. I intentionally only post 2-3 times a week on my blog, so I have time to respond to every comment that’s left on my blog, and can read/comment on other blogs. I visit 30+ blogs a day, and leave comments on 99% of them. For me, this part is the most important part of blogging, because it’s in the commenting that I get to directly interact with other bookish people 🙂
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I Love it Sara! We all have at least 10-15 minutes a day to stop, view our reader and take the time to respond to the written artistry of another. We just all have to make this a habitual daily action. 🙂
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Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner and commented:
I’m in the group that doesn’t always need to make a comment, simply checking ‘like’ is all that’s needed most of the time.
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I actually am a blogger that visits other blogs and comment. The essence of a true blogger and writer is to not simply have tunnel vision and remain focused on your own efforts but also stop to appreciate those of others. (Not just by hitting the like button) There is always at least one line, picture or other comment on most posts that I read that gives me enough words to write my appreciation to that author. We live for that engagement! It took me a year to get other bloggers to start comment to what I write and I never want to forget my humble and struggling beginnings. Other bloggers and their encouragement through comments have gotten me where I am today:-)
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Actually just kidding – I usually don’t have the time or it is too political. (my New Year’s resolution was keep my big, fat political mouth closed this year!)
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