If there is one thing that all bloggers have in common, it is that they want to be read.
And let’s face it; receiving comments can be pretty addictive too.
It then comes as no surprise that you will find a blogger publicizing his/her site by linking to new posts via Facebook and Twitter. Heck, I’m guilty of this too — I used to post links to new entries on Facebook and Twitter.
I no longer do this.
Why?
Because more often than not, I would receive more comments on Facebook or Twitter than on my blog.
Am I the only blogger who has had this problem?
I understand why people choose to comment on Facebook or Twitter instead of on the blog itself: convenience.
But I personally prefer to have comments on my blog rather than on Facebook or Twitter, where the comments/replies will shortly be buried under newer items and almost impossible to find after a few months have passed.
I try to extend the same courtesy to my fellow bloggers. Even if I first come across a page via a shared link (whether via Facebook or Twitter or a shared bookmarking service), I will make a conscious effort to click on over and comment on the original post.
I know that sharing links to new blog posts has the potential to draw in more readers and informs existing readers of updates. However, I have found that this is not the case for someone like me, whose friends and followers are already aware of this site.
There’s also the little part of me that feels bad for potentially littering my friends’ feeds with self-promotion. “LOOK AT MEEE! PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEEE!” While I certainly don’t feel this way when I see fellow bloggers linking to their sites, I know quite a few people who find them annoying.
What is your preferred commenting medium?
I like books, gadgets, spicy food, and art. I dislike shopping, hot weather, and the laws of entropy. Although I am a self-proclaimed computer nerd, I still have a love for handbags and makeup... and I am always teetering on high heels. To learn more about me, visit the 
I prefer to comment on blogs, mostly because while the blogger can know who I am through my email, no one else really will if they aren’t trying to search me out. My twitter and facebook page are very much IRL and my husband is kind of paranoid and prefers if I don’t mix online and RL personas.
I’m anti "automatic tweet new posts" but I do point people on Twitter to my blog when I’ve spend a particularly long time writing something and I want to give it more exposure. I have a few random people comment on the posts that get imported into Facebook but only a few, most are from my hometown and I think aren’t very tech-savvy.
One thing that seems to help encourage posts for me is the plugin I have that lets people nest comments and notifies you when someone replied specifically to you. People don’t go back to posts to check for new comments, so this keeps them updated.
I also, try to make an effort to comment on blogs though. I love love love getting comments and I know everyone else feels the same. The question is, do you focus on a few blogs and comment on them religiously, or do you read a bunch in your GR and comment sporadically on all of them? I can never decide which is best.
I also prefer to make the comment directly on the blog. I have so many that I read though, so I try to comment on each every so often, instead of constantly commenting on one particular blog.
And I can completely identify with your apprehension about self-promotion via Twitter. I feel the same way. I’ve tried to tweet about particular posts, and I felt like a phony. So now, I just have the link on Twitter and people can visit if they choose. It makes me more comfortable.
I had that problem as well on Facebook because I have my blogs posted directly to my notes feed over there. (My personal blog links to my personal profile and my photography blog links to my business page.) I fixed it by downloading a WordPress plugin that imports any comments I get on Facebook as comments on the original blog post.
I always comment on blogs, not on/to the FB/Twitter posts! Though I do find it necessary to advertise a post that way until readership gets above, oh, 12 people 🙂
@Jenna — I would love nested comments and notifications if someone replies to your comment, but Squarespace currently does not support it. (The rumors are that it’s on the way so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.) And to answer your question, I personally comment on what particularly strikes me as interesting, or if it’s something I can relate to. I almost always do all my blog-reading through Google Reader, so there is no favoritism.
@Jessica — I’ve heard of that plugin and it seemed interesting, but even if they had a plugin like that for Squarespace I probably wouldn’t use it. I dunno, I would feel like I’m "cheating"….does that make sense?
I always click through to the site. But that means that I don’t click through as often as I would if I weren’t reading it in a reader. Double that for when I am reading on my iPhone…since I am a crappy iPhone typer and blogger blogs make me have to log in 100 times in order to post.
Regarding your readership, you got a +1 today through Google Reader’s Recommendation feature. I just started reading your blog today and even though I don’t really read blogs (just local news aggregators, Slashdot, Gizmodo and other such geeky stuff) I like what I’ve read so far, and I think I’ll keep reading. And even though it might be more convenient to post comments to Facebook or Twitter, I DEFINITELY appreciate that my feed is not littered with self-promoting junk. I think that’s the kind of thing that leads readers to be overstimulated, apathetic and, eventually, former-readers.
I don’t Twitter (I honestly still don’t really get it…) and I don’t post my blogs on Facebook, except to say "hey if you don’t know I have a blog and you want to know about our move, check it out." For a while I was getting 1 or 2 comments per blog post, but I average 0-1 comments per blog MAX. Sometimes I think "MAN! No one reads my blog…" but my stats say that there are a few people that do. When I first started blogging, I started with the intention of writing things that may get comments, but in reality, I blog about what I want to blog about, and sometimes it’s just not that exciting to other people.
I DID post the ‘if it was my home" thing on my blog and link back to you – I make sure to do that if I found something cool from another person’s blog that I want to post on mine.
I try to comment on the blog itself (vis) because it gives me more exposure. If one of my close friends posts something to FB/Twitter sometimes I’ll comment there to say something personal that shouldn’t be on the blog and therefore in a more public setting. I do get a lot of comments not on my blog though, and I’m not sure why. If you’ve clicked my link and read the blog, why go all the back to FB to comment? Either way, I’m leaving my Twitter and FB auto-posts for now, until I get more dedicated followers.
I seem to have a lot of followers on Twitter who don’t use news feeds, so sometimes the only way they know about my new entries is through Twitter. Even so, I try to keep my "Twitter advertising" to a small amount of posts, only the ones I really want people to engage in. It absolutely drives me CRAZY when someone takes the time to reply to your post, but does it on Twitter. Like, did you not see the comment form at the bottom of the post? Did you not see the part where I asked you to comment in the form in the bottom of the post? But the bigger problem for me is that I seem to have a lot of readers who read but don’t comment. My stats always show that at least 90% of people reading don’t bother to leave comments. This baffles me. Why are they reading if they don’t want to interact with me?
@Cate — thank you so much for commenting! It’s always great to hear from new readers, and I hope I keep you entertained!
@jessicamaylords — thanks for posting the "It it were my home" and linking back to me! I too, try to always link back to a source because it’s just common courtesy…I’ve had a pretty popular blog in the past use my stuff in the past without permission and it got me pretty mad.
@Elli — that’s EXACTLY my point! If you had to click to my blog to read it, why click back to Facebook to comment?
@Ashley — it’s not just you. I currently have almost 20,000 visitors a month and you can see how many comments I get.
Cookies, your already logged into Facebook or Twitter – where as most blog comments require you to prove "your a real person" through a variety of security methods – andrequired information. Where there is liittle effort required to respond to something if your already logged in. Eg wordpress blogs are easier for me because I’m already signed in to my blog, yours has saved my details from a previous comment, The advise I was given very early on in blogging was make it easy for people to comment, and you will get more comments. Trying to find the balance between spam protection, and free flowing ideas. I read most of my stuff through a reader, and wish I could comment through there, but my prefered method is most definitly via the blog. It’s good to know I get listened to 🙂
i love this post! i have to admit that a little part of me dies when I spend a long time uploading a video and creating a post and there are ZERO comments. I read all my subscriptions on Google Reader so I do all my reading every few days or so that’s why you’re getting all my comments now, hehe.
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