Comments of Gold: Advice on Giving and Receiving Comments

Adam Bellinson, Michigan State University

Abstract

Commenting on a blog is a great way to provide feedback on a post because it is viewable by all the readers of that particular article. It's also nice when a dialog breaks out and a forum-like discussion surfaces. When blogs are used for class, often students are asked to comment on posts for points and participation grades. Since some of these people may have never participated in a blog, I will offer them and other curious individuals some helpful tips!

You've probably seen some posts on the BfL blog from me, Adam Bellinson, already. I'm a Telecommunications student here at MSU. I've been blogging and participating in blogs for the last 5 or so years, so I've had ample experience with comments of both the less-than-useful "cool, thanks!" variety as well as very constructive ones with links and multiple good points.

Reg Adkins of lifehack.org (an interesting blog about getting things done quickly and efficiently) wrote about posting blog comments in his brief, yet concise post, "Commenting Tips." I'll touch on many of his main points, and mix in a few of my own.

The purpose of a comment is to impart an idea in response to the post; make sure your comment actually adds value. Don't be afraid to leave a comment of disagreement or criticism, as long as it is constructive. If your comments are helpful, the poster will likely appreciate your contribution. If you still feel uncomfortable about sharing your idea, try starting out with a positive observation or starting your comment with "in my opinion..." Over time you will become more comfortable offering constructive feedback.

A few other things to think about:

If everybody took these rules into account before submitting comments, we would have some golden weblog commentary!

As exciting as comment dialog can be, it can only happen if someone initiates it. Just because a user sees a comment submission form, doesn't mean they will automatically be gung-ho about using it. It is the job of the blogger (perhaps you, the student) to spur interest and compel readers to leave their two cents. For this, Chris Garrett's "10 Tips for Attracting More Comments" does a great job of answering this need. Darren Rowse also has a similar post that has a bit to add.

Ask people to comment! Sometimes people hesitate to speak their mind. Often, simply requesting feedback can be just what is needed to get them to take action. Ask questions that are likely to get answers. Keep an eye on your comments. If posts on one topic seem to get more comments than others, take it as a hint as to what people find interesting. Finally, don't leave your post unattended! Respond to the comments and feed the fire! See Chris's post for more tips.

Lastly, I'd like to introduce a really nifty service that I came across recently. coComment lets you keep track of your comment dialogs on blogs, forums, Digg, and Flickr with a unified web interface. You can set it up to send you notifications when someone responds to your comment. It also effectively gives any website on the 'net a comments area! (This is made easy with a small firefox extension or bookmarklet.) Finally, if you have your own website or blog, they allow you to share the top users of your blog, a tag cloud for your blog, and your own latest comments in the blogosphere by using some code that pulls content from their service. Presumably you could use at least the latter feature on a MySpace page or any service that allows you to insert your own html.

I hope you've found these tips useful. Just remember: don't be afraid to speak your mind!