When thinking about what to write about in my monthly discussion post I had one idea. I've been thinking a lot about blog comments lately. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I feel like the comments over here have been down lately. Now don't get me wrong, I never did get a ton of comments but I could usually count on each post to get one or two and if I was really lucky four or five. But these days I feel like I am lucky if I get two comments on my posts. And it doesn't matter if it's a review, a discussion post, or a meme comments are down.
One thing I want to say before I go any further is that it's not like I expect comments. There is nothing that mandates people comment on my post. I mean there is nothing saying that people have to read my posts. It's nice when they do one of those things but it's especially nice if you do both. Seeing comments is the best way to validate that you read and liked a person's post. It shows them that "I was here and something resonated." So even though I know there is nothing saying people have to comment I can't help but feel like maybe my posts aren't as good or maybe people aren't reading them as much. I know that's not true and I'm a Ravenclaw and therefore a logical thinker so let's break it down to make me feel better.
Why Do I Comment?
I have to take a second to think about the reason that I might comment on a post. And there are any number of reasons why I might comment on a post. By far I think the posts I comment most on are memes like Top Ten Tuesday and Waiting on Wednesday. I think this is normal. The whole point of this is to connect people throughout the blogosphere and it definitely does. Then I think I am more likely to comment on reviews for books that I have read. I think when I read a review of a book I have read there is a tendency to add something akin to "me too." I want to add things like "I also found the pacing slow" or "I know they didn't work for you but I liked the characters."I also tend to comment on the posts written by my blogger friends. There are just some blogs that you read every day or every time that they post. Maybe it's because you really like what they have to say or maybe it's because you really like them as people. I know cliches are bad but friendship is good, right? Over the years I've developed some good relationships with fellow bloggers. These are often the people whose blogs I like and reviews I trust. So when I see that they have a new post I will definitely read it and I want to support them by adding my two cents.
I will also sometimes comment back to people who commented to me. Now admittedly I am not very good at this. If I see someone has commented (whether they are an old follower or a new one) I usually forget to check out their site and to say something. And sometimes I will go to their site and not have anything to comment on. I can comment on anything but as statated above, I prefer to comment on books I have read so I can say "me too" instead of saying "I want to read this, it sounds really good." Which to be entirely honest is stupid. Some of my favorite comments are people saying that I convinced them to read the book I was reviewing. I should try to be better about this.
Why Wouldn't I Comment?
Well, again there are a few reasons why I might not comment on something. For one I think you have probably figured out that I wouldn't comment on a post if I have no interest in reading the book. We all have different tastes which is totally fine. It's one of the best things about this crazy blogosphere that you can find all kinds of different people and reviews. But if I see a post from someone that is about like an adult romance I am not going to read it and therefore not going to comment.But the weirdest reason is if I haven't read the book but want to. These are often reviews I will read but not comment on. Maybe because I think I have nothing meaningful to say. Like often I will read multiple reviews for the same book, especially if it's a hyped up book just to see what different people are saying. Because as stated, different people have different opinions. But you can only say "I can't wait to read this book. Great review!" so many times.
I also read recently that the amount of engagement matters, I can't remember who wrote a post talking about this. It's frustrating me because it's one of the reasons why I decided to do this discussion. But last week someone said something about people are least likely to comment on posts with a lot of comments or ones with no comments. And this I think is true for me. When a post already has a ton of comments I think that I can't add anything else and I don't comment. But at the same time if there are no comments I don't want to be the first. But isn't that a thing on YouTube. People are always trying to be the first to comment. We should get more like that.
What About People Commenting For Me?
Well, if I am operating under the assumptions that people comment similar to me than I can come to a few conclusions. For one, I need to explore more and comment more. The best way to get comments and expand the interactions is to make the first move. I'm definitely not very good at this and should get better. I also would like to start finding some more blogs. When I first started I was all about finding that awesome new blog that could share some insight I didn't have and talk about books that I also loved and hated. I've gotten away from that.I also think that other that that there isn't much else I can do. I know that reviews never get that many comments. I shouldn't really be upset if a review doesn't get any comments. But I can't help but feel like I'm doing something wrong. If people are like me and they prefer to comment on books that they have read and/or are new to them then I guess I could share some different books with people. But honestly there have been some books that I thought would be really popular like The Song Rising, To All the Boys I Loved Before, and A Conjuring of Light that didn't get many comments. But maybe I could read some different kinds of books that are either really popular or new to people.
But for the most part I'm just curious about what makes you comment on a post? What would encourage you to comment more? What about your posts? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!
