 |
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/sea-turtle/ |
I have been writing posts here since St. Patrick's Day, 2009. That's over 110 posts in 44 months. My total comments on these posts? Somewhere between the number of months and the number of posts. In other words less than one comment per post.
I can guarantee you that if I were to look at the last 100 "posts" I did on Facebook you would find plenty more than 100 comments. In fact you might just find kloser to 500 comments, I'm betting. I can always find 4 or 5 comments on things I say there. And, how many comments have you (or I) written on other people's Facebook posts? I have exchanges on single posts that went 30 or 40 comments - just by me!
Why don't I leave comments, more often, on blog posts? I do try to leave a comment whenever I find a post that hits home with me. I like to add comments after I read a good comment on a good post. But sometimes I am in a hurry and I finish the post and then send the link out to my twitter stream so others may find it. But does the author know I've sent out a link to the post? Does the author know I thought it was great?
I see posts all of the time about teaching students to be good communicators and leave comments on posts by other students. I even see students being told to leave comments on posts they read while doing research. So why don't we educators take the time to leave a comment? Well, I think it comes down to the time thing. It really does take about 4 or 5 minutes to write the comment, go through the Captcha sequence, and hit "submit comment." And do we have a spare 4 or 5 minutes?
Well, actually, I think we do. If you can spend 4 or 5, (or 30), minutes on Facebook commenting on and posting items, then I think you can do the same with some one's blog. It takes changing your mindset. It takes me changing my mindset too. I have gotten better about it. And I intend to get even better about it. Now it's your turn. Go find a blog post you have read this week and leave a comment on there. Then, the next time you read a post, at least scroll down to the comments section and remind yourself that you should leave a comment. Before long it will become a habit and bloggers will thank you for it.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I do believe that I comment more on blogs than on face book because I only use face book for family things. I can easily go a week without any comments on face book and I do comment on blogs more often than that!
I have noticed however that if I have to repeat the words to confirm that I'm not spam, and if it does NOT work the first or second time I do give up and quit! Jumping through hoops to leave comments is incredibly time-consuming!
(And by the way, love your misspelling of "closer" in paragraph 3! CUTE!)
Hi there, I'm here, appreciate the blog post, and now I am commenting. Kidding aside, I appreciate your posts, always learn something.
ReplyDeleteThank you Fran and Mss Dazey. I woke up and wrote this post in about 10 minutes because the subject was on my mind -> blogging really can be a lonely past time. But, when I think about it, I write mainly as a way to reflect on what I am doing in the classroom or what I am thinking about in education. So, I should be content to just get the words down. There are times, however, when it feels good to see that someone has noticed. So thank you both for noticing!
ReplyDeleteDoes a tweet and a twitter comment count? ;)
ReplyDeleteYes. If you read someone's blog post and then promote it with a tweet I think that counts. Great point. Actually, you came on here and left a comment too! Thank you.
ReplyDelete