Managing Commenting Energy – An Experiment

June 18, 2010 Written by Social Media

Lately I’ve started being more active in commenting on other peoples blogs and as a result a number of positive things have happened…

  • I’ve been reading more blogs and therefore been exposed to a lot of amazing perspectives that I otherwise might not have come across.
  • I’ve had some engaging conversations with bloggers and other commenters.
  • We’ve also received more comments here at iThnk.com and our site stats have gone up (just a bit).
  • We’ve also had someone who neither Andy or I know personally approach us about guest posting on our site.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is the time involved. Reading loads of posts until something sparks your interest enough to sit there and craft a well thought our comment is an enjoyable but incredibly inefficient use of time.

So what’s the solution?Comments1 Managing Commenting Energy An Experiment

A comment a day. That’s right, I’m gunna make just one comment every day – sound like a really bad infomercial doesn’t it?

I’m also going to limit myself to a selection of 14 blogs – the 14 blogs I use will change as I find great new sources of inspiration.

Why one comment?

Because it’s manageable and it means you don’t get sucked into the vortex of blog hopping.

Why 14 Blogs?

  • Because if each blog only posted once a week I have double coverage.
  • It means that if one blogger writes an uninspiring post I don’t have to comment on it.
  • I can read 14 blogs in a week and I can BE ATTENTIVE to all of them.
  • At the moment there are only about 5 blogs that I read every week without fail (the rest of my reading is haphazard) so this leaves me nine glorious spots to experiment with.

So which blogs am I going to start with?

  1. iJump – The blog of Simon Young & Co – Simon is a writer turned social media maven and the person who really got me involved in social media.
  2. Danny Brown – Danny Brown is a fairly prolific blogger who is always quite insightful. His niche is also social media.
  3. Alexwhalley.com – Alex is a pretty inspirational blogger who I met through my day job – he’s a great writer and his blog is going from strength to strength.
  4. Bwagy – Ben young is a pretty inspirational entrepreneur and he uses his blog to share whatever it is that is driving him.
  5. IceBlueBanana - Is a great blog that posts mostly about things that relate to enhancing your professional life.
  6. Business Blogs – This is a great NZ based network of bloggers who write insightful posts about business.
  7. Apple Pie and Custard – A blog with great tittle, they post mostly about how to get your site found.
  8. BusinessGrow.com – A pretty popular blog that I found through a comment on DannyBrown’s site.
  9. VisionWidget – VisionWidget is a great design blog which seems to consistently post useful design resources.
  10. PocketSmith’s Blog – The blog from one of Dunedin’s most promising start-ups.
  11. LittleBoxOfIdeas – Is another great design blog which is a great source of inspiration.
  12. ServantofChaos – Gavin Heaton’s blog about all sorts of wonderful web/business related stuff.
  13. 37Signals - Possibly the world best corporate blog.
  14. YouthDesigner – This is yet another great design blog which often provide easy to understand design tutorials – which I love.

I’ll give you all monthly updates on how this little experiment is pans out and on which blogs stay on my list and which ones get ousted.

What do uThnk?

Do you do something similar or do you have something better that I should try?

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  • http://dannybrown.me Danny Brown

    The first thing I think is that I REALLY like the design of your blog – very clean and sharp, great job!

    Secondly, what a cool experiment / thought process / idea (delete where applicable). I know what you mean about having enough time (or not) to comment on all the blogs you read. I think currently I'm subscribed to around 200, of which 30 I read without fail and about 10-12 I comment on regularly.

    I need to improve this ratio, so I may “borrow” your idea and make it more manageable to comment to a much better level than I currently do.

    Oh, and thanks for including me on your first list – I'll try and make it worth it ;-)

  • socialsammy

    Hi Danny

    Your blog well and truly deserves to be on this list, love the content you produce – so don't mention it!

    I know I started looking at my reader and feeling so overwhelmed by the amount of content that I had to sift though and it just got to a stage where I just had to do something to make it more manageable. If you try something similar let me know how it pans out. I have to say having put this process in place just 24 hours ago my mind already feels less cluttered, hopefully there are more good things to come!

    Thanks for commenting – Stay in touch.

    P.S.
    I really appreciate you complimenting the design. The site was designed and developed in a bit of a hurry so maybe the reason it's so “clean” is that we didn't have time to over complicate it.

  • alexwhalley

    'pretty inspirational?' – 'PRETTY inspirational' Geeez, what does a man have to do get a VERY in the sentence. LOL Just kidding mate, that's really humbling that I have made this list, especially considering I'm still relatively new. Means a lot coming from you Sam, so thanks mate.
    Now for my rebuttal: One post comment a day is not the right move when you are starting to build your brand and your blog traffic. Just to give you an idea, I recieved 3400 visitors last month, and of that 2600 came as a result of blog commenting. I don't think I need to say anymore, but I will :)
    I thnk you should comment once on all 14 blogs that you follow (it's not blog hopping if you have a predefined route) and you also comment once on a new blog.
    You still have your one comment rule, it just now applies to a new blog (go for a smaller one where you will have more impact)
    This way you are controlling the commenting to the 14 blogs you know which is less time consuming because you know their style already so meaningful comments come easier, and THEN… you find a new blog through an avenue other than the comments thread or blog rolls of your 14 (this way the new blog is not unintentionally part of the same circle so to speak) and you expand your reach.
    Over time you will still have the 14 blogs (which is ever changing) and you also have 365 new traffic channels.
    Ithnk I am going to make a post out of this (if that's OK?) I amaze myself with my ability to spout endless drivvle sometimes ;)

  • http://twitter.com/josedramirez Jose David Ramirez

    This is a great way to connect and be active within your community! I love your approach.

  • socialsammy

    Sorry Alex you are “Very” inspirational – you know us Kiwi's have a hard time laying down full blown compliments. I'll attempt to be more flattering in the future haha.

    You make some incredibly valid points, I'll definitely take them into consideration as I move through this experiment. But at the moment it's just about making it 'manageable' – so if I find that I'm commenting more than once per day without breaking a sweat then perhaps I'll up the ante.

    I guess the reason I don't want to place an artificial mental requirement to comment on all 14 blogs is that I quite like variety and I don't want to comment just for the sake of commenting…however you're statement about building a community is duly noted – this strategy may not be the best way forward. I'll put it in place, see how it pans out and tweak as I go.

    Thanks for the insight…wouldn't have thought about it quite like that if you hadn't commented.

  • socialsammy

    Thanks Jose, hopefully is pans out and something great results but if not at the very least I hope to make commenting regularly a manageable part of my life. How are things going for you with http://backdropsbeautiful.com

  • http://www.icebluebanana.com mark

    Wow – I really appreciate you putting icebluebanana.com in this list! I love the idea you have for this experiment. A few weeks ago Alex posted about his fav 12 blogs to comment in to increase traffic & I posted a few more (9 or so) for the same purpose.

    I think that it is important to note that which blog will generate traffic for you may change over time. That is, this week Alex's blog may generate higher traffic for you than mine will, but the following week it could be different. Really, it all depends upon a whole bunch of things happening in tandem and is probably too complex to be worth the time to figure out (if that is possible anyway).

    Also, it seems that traffic generation has a bit of a perpetual motion component. I only posted once this past week (due to life craziness) and generated a bit more traffic than I did the previous week when I posted 5 times. I think it has to do with building up a bunch of backlinks and getting to know people in the Internet way (twitter, guest posts, comment conversations, skype, etc). About 1/5 of my traffic last week way new.

    I wish you luck with this experiment! Let us know how it works out!

  • http://www.icebluebanana.com mark

    One more thing – thank you for listing these blogs! I had only heard of Alex's before. :) Have a great day!

  • http://twitter.com/servantofchaos Gavin Heaton

    I love these sort of experiments! And you are right, commenting does take time … But it is the exchange of ideas which is one of the most interesting aspects of blogging, and without commenting you're really just shouting into the wind.

    I'll be interested to read a follow up on how the experiment goes!

  • socialsammy

    Hi Mark

    I'm glad you found the other blogs on this list interesting and you are certainly welcome for the inclusions of icebluebanana.com – your blog is truly inspiring.

    iThnk your point about comments on different blogs driving traffic at different times is spot on and I will try to keep this in mind (although as you so may not be worth it). But for me traffic generation isn't really the main focus. I guess my major aim is to make sure I'm, as Gavin has said in his comment below, not “shouting into the wind”.

    This was probably a major part of where we were going wrong with our first few months of blogging and it was contrary to everything we were talking about.

    So I guess I see this experiment as a way to practice what we're preaching in a manageable way.

  • socialsammy

    Spot on Gavin spot on, iThnk making sure I'm engaging and exploring new ideas is the major driver for this experiment at the moment.

    BTW thank you for putting on Digital Citizens was great to come along and soak up the atmosphere last week. I look forward to the next one.

  • ophil

    Awesome Sam, should provide rich content for discussion… look forward to following the results. Would also be keen to understand the criteria for staying on the list and getting booted… Suggest keep a journal (or start flagging / coding the posts) to identify the type of content that 'arouses' your interest e.g. confirming your paradigm, challenging your paradigm, utility factor etc… Keep it simple but use some structure to extract the optimum learning opportunity… laters ophil

  • socialsammy

    Thanks for taking the time to comment Phil.

    Certainly will try and keep some sort of log, every time I remove a blog or add one I'll write something down. Great piece of advice. Thanks Phil hopefully this way I'll learn something about myself too.

  • markwilliamschaefer

    Thanks for including me. I will surely kiss your ass to make the cut. : )

    One of the ways I manage the SM wave coming at me each day is to also have a limited list. If I find a new one, something has to drop off. I think Brogan wrote he had 700 blogs in his Reader. Say what? I like your approach better!

  • socialsammy

    Hi Mark

    Thank you for the comment and the ass kissing. Flattery will get you everywhere.

    My reader was going the way of Brogan's too. iThnk I had 120 feeds and it got to the point where it was just so daunting to even think about looking at it that it mean I hardly ever did.

    I feel I may have limited my self slightly too much in this experiment with only 14 blogs and a comment per day. But it is good to be able to get through my reader in less than 20mins and to be free of the pressure to comment on everything. I'm sure I'll have to make a tweak or two soon.

    Thanks for stopping by I'm sure we'll interact again sometime soon.