You’ve heard about the 90-9-1 rule. 1 percent of your readers will regularly leave comments on your posts. 9 percent will leave one now and then.
And a whopping 90 percent will never leave a comment.
Does it matter to you that most people don’t leave a comment on your blog? Maybe. Maybe not. We all have our own feelings about that.
Some bloggers, like the one who emailed me last week, are very concerned that their page views are up but the comments are few and far between.
Others, like a guy on a blog I was reading last week, think that bloggers who want a lively discussion in the comments section are “needy,” that they are ego-driven.
That they need to be validated.
Whichever side of the fence you are on (I love comments because they build community and help me see if I’m on the right track with my content), you might be noticing a trend of fewer comments on blogs.
Why fewer comments?
Could be many reasons.
For one, there are just way too many blogs to compete with these days.
And blogs are not the only social platform around any more. Micro-blogging (Twitter, etc.) has grown.
Readers are more time-challenged than ever. More of them opt for reading the headline and short post overview on Facebook. And instead of taking the extra step to visit your site, they just leave a quick comment on the Face.
Or answer your blog post teaser question on Twitter rather than click on the link to the full post.
My livefyre experiment
A few weeks ago, I decided to see if a commenting system would help get live discussions going on the CatsEyeWriter blog and making it easier for my readers to connect with each other. This is what I learned from your feedback—both through blog comments and private emails you sent me.
I sent some of your concerns to Jordan Kretchmer, CEO of Livefyre, and his responses are included here. I didn’t have time to list every comment you made, but these were the most commonly expressed:
What you like
1. Real-time discussions.
You see immediately what you’ve posted and who you’ve replied to. One reader said, “Livefyre sounds great for networking.”
I saw this happen on my recent about page post. One reader read my comment about another reader’s amazing blog. She made an @ comment to that person asking for the blog’s URL. So, one reader responded to another reader and she probably picked up a new reader—and fan. Very cool!
2. Your content, specifically, your comments, gets more eyeballs.
The blog is a hub that connects with all your other social networks, so you get more visibility. One reader said, “I like the hub of interconnected spokes—a spider web. We can travel up, down, sideways and always come back to the centre.”
3. The points you get when you comment.
I will have to say that I don’t totally understand points yet, but it seems to be a way to reward frequent contributors. One reader said, “Nice little perk and people for some reason like seeing their numbers grow.
What you don’t like
1. You are being overwhelmed with e-mails every time a new comment is posted.
This one is an easy fix. Go to the spot right above the box where you leave your comment. It says, “Following,” with a check in front of it. Just click on it in order to stop email notification when a new comment comes in.
2. You are worried about privacy issues.
Some of you were concerned that you have to link to and use your password to get connected with the social media sites. One reader said, “I really try to limit my exposure to security risk by not linking a lot of apps like this to my social media sites.” Another said, ” I don’t like signing on to anything with Facebook or Twitter. I worry that by granting permission, the app will automatically post something to my profile.”
Jordan’s response: Livefyre will never automatically post anything to a user’s wall. We take privacy extremely seriously. We have the social sign-in options for 2 reasons: 1) Makes it simple to create a livefyre username without having to manually enter and details. 2) If the user chooses, she can share comments to her Facebook page or tag Facebook friends in comments to get them into the conversation. We only require a password so that each user becomes the owner of that username and can sign in without having to use Facebook, Twitter, etc., the next time they come back.
3. You miss your Comment Luv.
You are rightfully concerned that you aren’t getting that link to your last blog post when you make a comment. One reader even said that, in addition to the visibility for her own blog, it’s one of the ways she finds great new blogs to read.
Jordan’s response: This is almost done and we will be pushing it live in our next development cycle—within two weeks. The functionality will be that if you have Livefyre on your site, when you comment anywhere it will display your last post on your comment, just like Comment Luv.
Okay, there you go.
What about you?
Do you see the benefits of Livefyre?
Would you ever consider using it on your own blog?
Will it make a difference to you when the Livefyre folks add their own version of Comment Luv?
I’ve noticed fewer comments the last month or so myself, so this is very interesting. My hit stats haven’t seemed to change though, which was nice to see. It’s just quieter out there. I think how long you’ve been reading the blog might also play a role. I know I comment more frequently on new blogs, then taper off because I might not have as much to say unless the blogger leaves questions or a discussion trigger. Those I like and I really do more of them on my own blog.
@Janice Hardy Yeah, I see my comment numbers fluctuate regularly and, of course, some of that has to do with whether the posts begged a response (touched on a controversial or polarizing subject, etc.)
But a friend of mine with a marketing blog recently compared the social media pro Chris Brogan’s comment traffic between April 2010 and April 2011 and it was down by an average of 10 comments per post. So it’s even happening with the big guys.
You are right. Ending the post with a question or other discussion trigger gets more comments, but I was assuming that all things were equal here. (All posts had endings that motivated readers to comment.) Thanks for sharing these good thoughts, : )
Having been one of the early @livefyre users, I love the system – it’s definitely the best of the third-party systems, and their support is second-to-none.
I only stopped using it because of a couple of “issues” – the CommentLuv option, and the design capabilities (I like how my native system looks).
However, as jkretch mentions, there are some cool new features on the way. And having spoken with him at BlogWorld recently, I think I can safely say I’ll be switching Livefyre back on.
The comments thing is a quandary – I think a lot has to do with the blogger. I’m less likely to comment on blogs where the author has little interaction with the commenter – people have taken the time to come to your blog, the least you can do is chat with them.
Thanks for the update, Judy. Your Livefyre experiment is providing some great feedback and fueling some really interesting conversation. I think I can speak for jkretch when I say that we appreciate the extended test drive and we’re anxious to see how things progress. Looking forward to reading what the rest of the CatsEyeWriter community thinks!
I use Disqus, but I’ve been considering Livefyre after seeing them at BlogWorld. I’m still on the fence, though.
I think the social networks are killing blog comments. I see serious conversations taking place on Twitter and Facebook when back in the day they would have stayed on the blog post that inspired them. Though these are wonderful tools, they also keep conversation and traffic away from our blogs. At least that’s how I see it.
@DannyBrown @livefyre @jkretch Looking forward to the roll-out of the new features. The CommnetLuv issue is huge. Danny, I so agree on the blogger/author’s interaction with readers/commenters. I feel strongly about answering/responding to people who took the time to share their thoughts with me.
Thanks for adding such value to the conversation. : )
@debng Astute observation. I was leaning toward that train of thought myself. Anything that makes it easier for people. They’re already on Facebook, right? Why not comment there?
It begs the question: If we want people to visit our blogs, should we be pushing content out on Twitter and FB?
Interesting to ponder.
I think comments do add a sense of validation; but, who does not need that? Additionally, the comments remind you that you are not speaking into a void, that others ponder the same questions. There is no conversation if only one person speaks…
As a reader, I feel overwhelmed by all that is available to me to read. I cannot comment on every post I peruse or scan. As well, as so many people write blogs, a lot of the content overlaps. Why comment on a post that reads like the one I read last week?
As a blogger, I love conversation and I wish comments were not waning, for whatever reason.
@JudyDunn @debng Funnily enough, the social networks came up in conversation…
@rebekah.benson Well said. When you are putting your work out there in the world, a little validation is nice.
The overwhelm is a huge issue. HUGE. I try to subscribe to blogs that have different perspectives, different voices, but content overlap does happen. I can read the same content, but, somehow, coming from a fresh voice, it is somehow refreshing.
I too hope that comments stay steady because the conversation and dialogue are everything!
Excellent feedback. Thanks.
@joebertino jkretch You guys have been the model for follow through and engaging your customers. Can’t say enough good things about you. : )
I have recently posted about how I hate commenting systems and how I would not use them on my blog. The post shot out to be the third most popular on my blog and most people agreed that non-default-WP-commenting-systems suck.However, I have read two posts today that give great explanation to why they started using it. I am afraid to say that this is just too tempting and that I am now considering this or Disqus. I guess now I have a problem, if I do decide to install one of these two, which one to choose…
What happened to the existing comments on your blog after you changed to Livefyre?
@DannyBrown Hey Danny, I am still sticking to the “old” system for the same reasons. However with the new updates, this seems very tempting. The more I think about all this, the more I am getting the feeling that a biiiiig percentage of people are commenting for links only. In this case the systems really look promising.
I don’t think it would change much on your blog or mine for that matter, except “removing” the link chasers. I am giving this more and more thought.
@JudyDunn @DannyBrown One thing we’ve noticed with Livefyre is that bloggers that are active with their community and respond to comments see a massive increase in engagement around their content. No comment system will magically double your comments, it takes community people like you Judy and Danny to create meaningful conversations. Hat tip to you!
@JudyDunn @debng I completely agree that a lot of the conversation is happening away from your site. It’s funny that a lot of brands and publishers think they need to be pushing content out to these networks, but neglect the lack of social engagement right on their site. It’s still important to share to these networks because that’s where the people are. At Livefyre we’ve been pondering ways to solve disconnected conversations across networks, and we’ll be releasing a few excited features soon to combat that…stay tuned
@Brankica You bring up some great points. It’s hard it rely on a third party system when comments are the lifeblood around blogs. At Livefyre we want to make it as simple as possible for you to turn us on, and turn us off if it’s not for you.
The Livefyre plugin takes only a few minutes to install, and automatically imports all of your old comments. Any new comments left in Livefyre will be posted to your WordPress database so you still own all of the content.
@Brankica The transition couldn’t have been easier. All my old comments were imported seamlessly.
@jennalanger Will be very interested to hear what you are thinking along these lines because there has to be ways to leverage our social networks and integrate with Livefyre in a way that keeps people (or sends people) to our blogs where the rich conversations are taking place.
@jennalanger @DannyBrown The only thing I still worry a little about are the readers who are not as comfortable with technology. I’ve had a few emails from people who either didn’t know how to leave a comment or left one and it “disappeared.” So there is a bit of a learning curve.
Judy, I am sure we all like comments, but I don’t comment more on other people’s blogs just because there is a commenting system. However I am currently thinking about using one because they seem to be popular.
As you say there are more diversions and many people find they can have their voice on Twitter without talking on other people’s blogs. I had read somewhere (can’t remember where) that the increase in the number of blogs out there was slowing. There is bound to be some dilution which would mean that we all have fewer comments, but I can only manage to read a certain number regularly anyway. There are time constraints and maybe there is a Dunbar’s number for blogs as there is for people.
I subscribe to have all my favorite bloggers posted to me via email. Others I have quite liked go to Google Reader, but I mostly don’t get round to reading them.
Yes, I like the links back to commenters’ own blogs because we can find new and interesting people. I can’t say that Comment Luv or any other system has increased the visitors to my own blog, but actually I comment because i have something to say and not to increase traffic. I don’t deny it would be a great bonus to get more followers though.
Comments down? I’m not really surprised: there’s way too much noise out there on Internet, from Twitter to FB and all sorts of other goodies like YouTube…Obviously to get a comment you have to ask a question but my experience (modest as it is, I’ve been at it for about 16 months) is that much depends on the subject matter. If you’re into something that interests you and nobody else, you won’t get any response!
And with the increasing number of bloggers, it’s a statistical evidence that we are going to get more and more “niche” bloggers that won’t get responses until they finally hit their natural audience – and the more “niche” they are, the harder it is likely for them to get response!
@JudyDunn @Janice Hardy Very interesting about Brogan’s traffic. It’s comforting to know it’s a blog trend, not just me. Thanks for that.
Some of my biggest comment generating posts are actually links to other good posts. I muse a little on the topic, give a sample of the linked post then ask a question relating to it. They’re designed to start discussions and they often do.
@Janice Hardy @JudyDunn Thanks that sounds like excellent advice! I’ve never quite understood this business about linking to other posts (I’m rather green on Internet!!) I’ll try it! Btw, when writing I always refer to related articles and blogs but I don’t actually BUILD around someone else’s post…I guess that’s what you mean?
@Brankica I suggest you read an article @DannyBrown wrote on my blog recently that delves into the pros and cons of different WordPress commenting systems. See http://ariherzog.com/comparing-blog-commenting-systems/ and @JudyDunn and @jennalanger might also appreciate.
@claudenougat @JudyDunn Sometimes I’m inspired by another post and I reference it, or say it inspired me (and link to it of course). My “Noteworthy Links” posts are to things that I found interesting for whatever reason.Or for bloggers that I know are great blogs and I want to share the love and hopefully send some folks their way. Sometimes they’re other takes on something I’m writing about and would make a nice companion piece to my post for that day. (I blog about writing). There is so much good stuff out there and it’s hard to find it all sometimes. I think it’s a service to my readers to let them know about other things that might be of interest to them in the same topics.If they know they can always find something useful on my blog (even if it’s a link to another great article) they’ll keep coming back. Just one more way to “serve your customer”
@Janice Hardy @JudyDunn Many thanks, that’s very clear and useful. I shall certainly follow your blog now!
@claudenougat @JudyDunn Glad I could help, and thanks! There’s a good bunch of folks over there and the more the merrier.
@Ari Herzog @Brankica @DannyBrown @jennalanger Ari, thanks. I did read that post of Danny’s, just couldn’t remember where. It was very helpful. Thanks for pointing us there.
@claudenougat Definitely. Has to be a topic people care about enough to leave a comment. But even then, it’s just too easy for people to “like” it on Facebook, rather than write a thoughtful comment. : )
And, yes, finding (and knowing) your audience is key. Good points.
@Jon Stow On the stats on blogs, I read the same thing. Pew Research Center has documented a slight decline. But that still leaves, what, 144,000,000 of us? : )
I’m like you. My favorites come to me by email because the ones that pop into Google reader for some reason never get read (or commented on).
From my small sampling of research of my readers, they comment not only because they have something to say, but they want that traffic back to their own blogs. But people have different views on this. Great discussion.
@Janice Hardy Another good strategy. Love the sharing here.
@Janice Hardy @claudenougat Now, see, this is what I love about the new commenting systems. Readers are connecting with each other. Love it when that happens!
I didn’t comment on your original post about Livefyre because I didn’t feel like I had the time or energy to figure out how to use yet another commenting system. As a blog reader, I hate having to jump through hoops to leave comments. “Hoops” include having to login, register, fill in more than two (maybe three) required fields, or having to actually look around to figure out how to leave a comment. Basically, anything that takes more than 5 seconds before I can start typing my comment will prevent me from commenting.
That’s why I have resisted using anything other than the vanilla commenting system on my own blog. I don’t require registering, logging in, or typing a captcha. I’d rather spend a few extra minutes deleting spam comments than miss out on a real comment. Maybe I’d change my mind if I had more traffic on my blog, but that’s my philosophy for now. So my primary requirement from any third-party commenting system is simple: it’s just ease of use. How many hoops do my readers have to jump through to make a comment? The fewer, the better.
@BenjaminRose Wow, this is exactly the kind of feedback I need. Thanks for being so honest. For me, the measure is not how much traffic, how many readers/subscribers I have as much as whether this system works for them. I get what you are saying on the hoops. Wrote a post on that, “10 Reasons I Won’t Leave a Comment on Your Blog”:
http://catseyewriter.com/2010/11/27/10-reasons-i-wont-leave-a-comment-on-your-blog/
So I am not taking this decision lightly. Thanks for your input.
@BenjaminRose I completely agree with you! And there are some blogs where comments once you’ve taken the time (and effort) to type them up, they simply disappear! Internet gobbles them up!
@JudyDunn @BenjaminRose I am reading more and more and getting closer to starting to use Livefyre. Benjamin’s opinion is the same as mine few weeks ago.
But the more I look into LF the less it looks like hoops to jump through. It gives many options to log in and comment, like FB and Twitter for example. My target audience are mostly bloggers. If they don’t have LF account, they sure have FB and Twitter. If not they are probably not bloggers which in 99% cases will mean they would not comment on what I write about anyway. I am kinda thinking out loud here. I am the person that was very much against these systems until like a day or two ago. Now the more I read and see the closer I get to changing to LF. My main argument was the hoops to jump, but seems like LF has removed them all anyway….
@jennalanger You are from Livefyre? That is awesome, I am so close to changing to it, although I was so against it until like…today
I am guessing the comments will be left on my blog even if I decide to stop using it? What about the down time? I ran into Disqus being down so many times but not LF, so how do you handle this and keep it up?
And when doing backup of my blog which I do at least once a day, will all the comments be backed up too? I would just be really scared to risk 4.000+ comments, lol…
@Ari Herzog @DannyBrown @JudyDunn @jennalanger Just read it. His con points are the ones I have, however his pro ones are awesome. Especially that Danny wrote this while LF was in Beta so I am guessing the major problems were fixed. I have not experienced any slow loading that I have noticed on LF enabled blogs, so is there still an issue with that?
@claudenougat @BenjaminRose This actually happened to me even with default WP comments
@Brankica @JudyDunn @BenjaminRose
You know, the more I read about Livefyre, the more I like it as well. This post and some of the comments actually got me loosened up enough to take the time and jump through a few hoops to leave a comment. Part of it has to do with the fact that I’m interested in the subject, and I’d like to provide a more robust commenting system on my own blog. I can see a lot of the advantages of Livefyre and the others, and they’re appealing to me on several levels. I really enjoyed getting the email notifications that let me know someone had responded to my comment! And it did bring me back to continue the conversation. It’s definitely doing its job in that respect.
But I don’t think any commenting system will feel satisfactory to me unless it provides an option to leave a comment with no login whatsoever. That’s really what it comes down to. Logging in should be completely optional, so it serves those who desire the advantages while staying out of the way of those who don’t want or need those extra features. (That should be a basic philosophy for any computer software, for that matter.)
@JudyDunn @Janice Hardy @claudenougat This is so true, I have hardly ever seen this happen with default WP comments
@BenjaminRose @Brankica Boy, Benjamin, I hear you on that one. I don’t want to turn away a single reader who has something to say. And I don’t want to create an “elite” community here—those who are tech-capable and those who are not. In my blogging workshops, I always tell my students to remove all the barriers to commenting. So, in a way, I feel a little hypocritical (if I adopt this system). I, too wish there was a plain sign-in option. : )
@JudyDunn @claudenougat Me too. I love blogs where you have an option to have comments emailed to you. Makes it so much easier to keep up with them.You have to delete the ones you’re not part of, but that’s not too bad unless you’re very active on a lot of blogs.
@Brankica That’s the deal. The question is who is my audience, or as you said, who am I trying to cultivate? Makes a huge difference when you look at it that way. Yours are bloggers (or would-be bloggers), as mine are. And mine started out mostly business bloggers. Although, since winning my Top 10 Blogs for Writers award, I have a fair number of writers, authors and aspiring authors who might not have blogs yet. Perhaps that is part of my problem, two subsets of readers. Makes things a little more complicated.
@Brankica It would help if I introduced myself
I’m Jenna, Head of Community at Livefyre. All new comments are written to your WordPress database in real-time, so if you turn Livefyre off all of your comments will still be there. When you’re backing up your blog it is importing everything from WordPress, so that includes all comments.
Livefyre has very minimal downtime and we make sure to do updates during off-peak hours. One of the great things about our comment sync is that let’s say something happened to Livefyre – you could turn us off, get a bunch of comments using standard WordPress, and then turn Livefyre back on and we’ll sync those into our system. We’re making sure your data is always safe.
I also love our mention feature. I could reply to your tweet on Twitter, but it’s more fun to mention you here to let you know I responded. liveurlove
@Brankica @claudenougat @BenjaminRose Same here. : )
@JudyDunn @DannyBrown We’re going to be working on some tutorials to help intro people to the system. Are there any other things you can think of that would help the curve? We’re open to suggests on anything we can improve on to make the experience better. Thanks!
@jennalanger liveurlove I am 99% convinced and this 1% will come to me in a few hours (just the way my brain works) LOL. If nothing, I am going to give it a test drive, since I can’t lose much I guess.
@jennalanger @DannyBrown Jenna, I was going to ask you about that. It would be nice if there was a simple tutorial on how to leave a comment, features like @ and how to use them, etc. With any new technology (at least for some of us), it can be daunting at first. I can be tech-disabled myself at times, so I really understand where some of my readers are coming from. : )
@Brankica Agree, Bran. I think some of @livefyre features are needed more for blogs that attract a lot of trolls. If you have a solid community already, Livefyre just enhances it even more.
@Brankica Actually the reader-to-reader connections are what intrigued me about livefyre in the first place. : ) So it’s not just building my blog community, it’s helping other people do that, too. : )
I’m always amused by people who claim that a blogger who “whines” about comments is too into recognition.
Let’s face it: if we weren’t, on some level, into some kind of recognition, we wouldn’t blog. We’d find some nice paper journal and write to our hearts content to an audience of only ourselves. The few bloggers who genuinely don’t want any interaction, or don’t feel they have time to manage it, are pretty good at finding the check box that turns the comments off.
And that leaves the rest of us. We’d like to have comments.
I’d consider Livefyre for my site, but only if it allowed a “guest” login. Forcing people to jump through an extra hoop, even one as simple as Livefyre’s registration obviously is, is unfortunately too much to ask of many readers.
@patricksplace I hear you. I’m very excited about the live dialogue and interactions in real time. The questions are: 1) Are your readers already active on Facebook (I think most of mine are) or Twitter (probably fewer) and 2) Are they willing to sign in under those accounts?We really have to take a close look at our readers. Excellent points you make.
Currently like @debng I’m using disqus on my blog. I came to the topic of livefyre via a FB posting by @Brankica (thanks Bran, for prompting me to learn more). I really haven’t got any complaints about disqus, but once I saw all of the conversation going on about livefyre and comment luv, I thought I should investigate. Jury’s still out…more homework for me to do. Thanks for the post, @JudyDunn and all the great thought-provoking comments. Cheers! Kaarina
@KDillabough @debng @Brankica I’ve heard good things about disqus, too. They both require readers to register (I believe), but livefyre just promotes more interaction, or so it seems. (Never used disqus, just the regular “vanilla” WP commenting. ) Thanks for sharing your take on this. : )
@JudyDunn Thanks for providing a great sharing forum! Now following you on Twitter too. Cheers! Kaarina
Judy, as you know I adopted @livefyre as my commenting system a few weeks ago, influenced by you, of course. And I introduced it with a post about blog commenting, which you have referenced here. That post captured the most number of comments I’ve had in several months. However, since that post, commenting has gone back to it’s previous level.
So, did @livefyre attract more comments and encourage discussion? No. I think I expected it to somewhat attract more comments because the WP commenting system is not inviting. But the problem is not with the platform, it’s just that people don’t comment on blogs as much. I’m going to stick with @livefyre until the new features are rolled out. And then make the call whether or not to maintain.
I want to send out kudos to @jkretch and the Livefyre team. Jordan has directly emailed me to answer my questions.
A plain sign in of course could mean more spammers, or the possibility of unwanted, rude comments.
There really isn’t a perfect solution!
@claudenougat I’d rather have an occasional rude comment get through along with normal ones than have no comments at all.
@KDillabough Thanks for the Twitter follow. And right back at ‘ya. (As soon as I get my first cup of coffee here.) : )
@KDillabough @debng @Brankica Isn’t Brankica cool. One of my I’m-late-to-the-party friends. I’ve always been a Leo the Late Bloomer. Glad these discussions on blogs are helping us all think things through.
@JayEhret @livefyre @jkretch Jay, it’s so helpful to hear your thoughts on this. You were one of my first Twitter friends in my early, pre-smart social media days. (Not to mention taking a chance on me with my first ever guest blog post.) : )
It’s difficult to sort it all out because there are multiple factors influencing the comment or no comment decision. So you and I continue the experiment together. Hopefully we can share more as we take this journey. Thanks for taking the time to drop by and leave a comment.
Judy,
I’ve had livefyre from the beginning and I love it! There isn’t anything I don’t like about it, and knowing what they’re working on now just makes me love them more! We can have more lively conversations – that is when a few of us are on the site at the same time! I love how clicking on the photo can give you so much info about the person speaking. My favorite thing, though, is the New Comment flag that takes you right to the new comment and helps you follow the conversation. It serves you to keep that page open for when you go back later so the New Comment flags can show you what’s new!
Besides, when I visit a site that has Livefyre, I feel right at home!
(Are you by any chance working on happy and winky face icons Jordan – I’d LOVE that too!)
Lori
@Lori livefyre Wow, Lori. Another feature I didn’t notice. (Clicking on the commenter’s photo takes you to their bio (just popped in and wrote mine!) and links to websites, etc.) I had NO idea. So if someone is intrigued by your comment, they can go to YOUR blog. Very cool.
Thanks for pointing that out. : )
Until my post today got 11 responses (not counting my 11 replies back), I would have said yes, lately for me I do seem to be getting fewer comments on my blog. I have another blogger friend whose blog comments are growing more and more each day. She is getting between 40-120 comments on each of her most recent blog posts, so for her the answer would be no, she isn’t slowing down at all in the comment department.
@patricia-singleton I am honored that you left a comment here. So today’s post of yours got 11 comments x your replies, that’s 22 comments! There are so many factors here that impact commenting (or not) , including, did the content/topic touch a nerve or be a response of some sort, That’s an important one. Sometimes the reader digest the information and doesn’t particularly need to discuss it (as in a how-to post).
With your friend, does she have a sense of why comments are increasing? She certainly must be doing something right. Thanks for sharing here, Patricia. : )
@JudyDunn I haven’t discussed the comment growth with my friend. Her blog is similar to mine but not as narrow as just healing from incest like mine is. She talks about depression, mental illness, incest and basically is about healing from the lies that we are told as children. She writes strictly from the view point of healing from the lies of childhood abuse. She touches the hearts and issues of many other survivors with a gentle touch. She has some training in different methods of healing. What I share is strictly from my own experience. I am one of her commenters.
@patricia-singleton Wow, now see, this is what I love about the blogging world. Such an avenue for communicating about important issues, educating people and supporting them in their journey. What gratifying work that must be.
Most of the time it’s because a lot of blogs require log ins, and it’s too much fucking hassle. Plus, let’s be honest, comments only benefit the blogger anyway. It’s a time-issue, mostly. We scan more than we analyze.
@trevorsmalls2 I hear you on the skimmers and scanners. So important as bloggers to keep that in mind when we format our content.
On comments only benefitting bloggers, not so sure on that one. Readers who leave an interesting comment can get people to visit their blogs and when that happens, they frequently pick up new readers of their own. Commenters connect with each other, network and build relationships. And readers who leave a thoughtful comment sometimes get invited by the blogger to write a guest post, so there you go. more visibility.
I’ve also heard from readers who say they find great new blogs to read in the comments section. Actually, I see these things happen quite often.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on commenting here. And do come back again! : )
@JudyDunn @trevorsmalls2 “Commenters connect with each other, network and build relationships.” Sounds like the foundation of a pretty strong community. I think we’re seeing this more and more across the web, a focus on small connected groups: http://bit.ly/jLzB85
@joebertino @trevorsmalls2 Thanks, Joe, for the link. Just quickly scanned it and it looks like fascinating stuff. Going to bookmark it and return later to fully digest it.
I actually don’t mind the notification emails from Livefyre. Well, sorta. I have a blackberry, so I can’t read their emails. They don’t appear to be delivered in a simple text format and I can’t reply via email (like I can with Disqus). Since I tend to be out late, traveling, etc. it’s kind of convenient for me to be able to read new comments as they come in on my mobile device and respond and or moderate right then and there. That’s why I use Disqus on my two primary sites right now.
Other than that, really dig the interaction I’ve seen on sites that use Livefyre!
@trevorsmalls2 Tell you what Trevor, here’s what I don’t like… I don’t like that I can’t click on your name (or anyone else’s for that matter) and easily be taken to your website. Instead it links me to your livefyre profile page where I have to look for your website link.
To me, that’s far too time-consuming. Period. I’d love it if my name could be hyper-linked so I can go straight to that readers site period.
@RicardoBueno @trevorsmalls2 Actually, I didn’t know this until Lori pointed it out to me, but if you have filled out your profile on Livefyre, if I click on your photo/avatar next to your comment, there is your website’s URL, hyperlinked.
@RicardoBueno Hmm. Need to check on that again. I read that one of the cool features of livefyre is that it works so well on mobile devices. Did I get that wrong?
@JudyDunn @trevorsmalls2 Judy, good catch, I just noticed that myself. I guess my first click-point is the person’s name.
P.S. Just installed livefyre on my site to give it a test-drive
Hey there @patricksplace , typically I’m of the same opinion. I love it when comment systems allow for “guest’ log-in. In other words, I don’t like it when they force you to create an account. That’s why I’ve used Disqus for so long.
Today however, I decided to make an exception and give the Livefyre comment system a test-drive. Ultimately, I think that the benefits (ease of interaction) outweigh the draw-backs (forcing people to create an account).
I’m going to test it for a month.
@Ari Herzog Just hopped on over to read that post… Great write-up from @DannyBrown !
@RicardoBueno @trevorsmalls2 Ricardo, That is so cool. We can compare notes. I think I’m just 2 weeks in now.
@JudyDunn Deal!
@RicardoBueno @trevorsmalls2 I know what you’re saying here, but at the same time, I do like the fact that your Livefyre profile has not only the website link, but also Facebook and Twitter links for those that have provided them. That way I have more access to the commenters faster.
@JudyDunn @RicardoBueno What OS is your BlackBerry on, Ricardo? I know when I had my BB and I was on OS5, it was poor for all comments (standard WordPress, Disqus, Livefyre, etc).
Moved to Android and haven’t had any issues (though OS6 may have solved them for BlackBerry too).
@DannyBrown @RicardoBueno Thanks for the added info, Danny. Seeing (and leaving) comments seem to work fine on the iPhone, too. Perhaps it is a Blackberry issue.
Points #1 and #2 is true. Most people will hesitate to comment as they are afraid about these things. I for one initially hesitate to use Livefyre but then changed my mind since it is actually nicer than wordpress comment.
Oh, although I would add commenting systems doesn’t do jack if a blog itself doesn’t have visitors to begin with.
(like mine)
Another thing @JudyDunn perhaps you would want to contact this site
http://articlewritingblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/are-blogs-really-getting-less-comments.html
as it seems it copy your post.
@astronyu Nice to see you here! You are a new reader, I believe, so welcome to the Cat’s Eye community. Yes, Livefyre can increase the interactions and comments IF you have a base of readers already and you have been cultivating and nurturing them. And all I can say is hang in there. We all start with that big fat zero in the comment number box. : ) (When I installed Livefyre, I was on my third year of blogging.)
@astronyu I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it that you took the time to tell me about the stolen blog post. I have already reported it to Google, who owns Blogspot, which if where the thief has his (or her) blog. Thanks again. I never would have known.
@JudyDunn Thanks, yeah, kind of new here. I was just simply browsing around and saw this interesting post. Maybe I am the kind of people who rarely comments on other’s blog, most of the time I don’t really have anything to say.
I’ve been moderating forums, building websites and blogs since 7 years ago but actually kind of newbie when it comes to serious blogging. Now I just want to start fresh, visiting and reading other blogs do good to me as it helped me to improve my writing skills and also inspire me to write about something.
This is a very enlightening post, Judy. Commenting does seem to be a fickle beast at times. Seems like at times I will people email me rather than comment and I’m not sure of the reason behind that.
Thanks, Barbara, My dilemma here is that I want to make it easier to engage my readers and connect them with each other but I don’t want to turn away readers who may not feel comfortable completing the short Livefyre registration (or signing in through Twitter or Facebook). It’s a tradeoff but I am seeing much more robust discussions taking place since I did a test drive of Livefyre. What to do? (Interesting comments on this post from readers).
Info PR: 2 I: 0 L: error LD: error I: 84 Rank: 474213 Age: June 3, 2010 I: 0 whoissourceRobo: yesSitemap: yes Rank: 2376940 Price: 29 Links: 71(1)|45(12) Density
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So far livefryre isn’t too bad but I think I still kind of prefer commentluv But as it becomes more popular I’m hoping that it will eventually allow the same options as commentluv has I guess we have to wait and see yet.
@Ragnarok Quite a few people feel the same way as you regarding their commentluv. Livefre has since added the link to the last post feature, but you need to be a registered livefyre user to get it.
I used Commentluv for a long time, but since I tried out LiveFyre I don’t want to return to Commentluv. I really like LiveFyre because it’s easy to install and use. Great article.
I think yes, blogs are getting really very few blog comments
I’m like you. My favorites come to me by email because the ones that pop into Google reader for some reason never get read (or commented on).