Get it? Constant Comment?
So recently a consulting client shared with me their dilemma when it came to commenting on blogs. They felt that they wanted to truly add to the conversation, and not simply leave "Yes, I hear you" type comments.
The problem? Composing their in-depth comments, responding to the blog posts of others, felt overwhelming and extremely time consuming.
It is a common enough challenge that I thought I would share my strategy here with all of my readers:
I try to find a middle ground. Sometimes, when I read an awesome blog post, all I have time for is "Thanks for sharing this!"
Other times, for that same level of awesome, I can wish I had an hour to compose a full-on blog post of my own, responding to their post, to leave as a comment.
But most of the time, that hour already has too many claims on it - so I compromise. I try to find ONE point I can add to the conversation. ONE element of the blog post to which I can respond substantively - and having done that, I feel the job's done.
It's not ideal - but it's a practical strategy, and it works for me. You want to engage your blog readers in a conversation, and you want to be part of the conversation over on their blogs... But life is busy, and it's counter-productive to let blog commenting be an additional source of stress in your life.
Remember, this blogging thing is supposed to be fun. You're finding YOUR community, and sharing with people who are passionate about what you are passionate about. That kind of community-building is beyond cool.
So when you comment, Remember to keep it Zen.
Namaste,
Lee
Thanks for opening up this topic, Lee. It's something I've wondered and worried about. It has seemed to me, though, that if responding becomes too difficult and time-consuming, then it defeats my own particular purpose. I'd probably expand "contributing to the conversation" to include even taking the brief time to respond to a post that has touched me in some way. Even if I don't have any additional thoughts or experiences I want to share. On my blog, I deeply appreciate responses that share personal experiences about my topic that week (and most of them do). They don't have to be long and complicated; but those commenters do become part of the conversation at that blog, or even blog post.
ReplyDeleteLee,
ReplyDeleteHey thanks for posting the box of Constant Comment tea...that is actually the name of our blog too :)
Great advice on the comments btw.
Valorie for Bigelow Tea