A community is not just a bunch of random people; a community is a group of people who feel somehow connected. Interaction between people in a community creates this sense of connection - it shows members of the community that others know and care about their experiences. That, in a nutshell, is why commenting on other people's blog is so important. As Doug Johnson pointed out in his "Blue Skunk Blog," if bloggers were only interested in putting their thoughts or feelings into writing, they would use a private journal. Instead, bloggers use the blog - a public forum - to share their experiences with others. Hence, they hope that others will read the blog, consider what was said, and (hopefully) gain some pleasure or learn something from it. The only way for a blogger to know if their writing has struch a chord (either positive or negative) is if people leave comments.
So how am I going to put that philosophy into action? For one, I think that the page on problogger.net has some very good suggestions to get more people to comment on my blog. In particular, I am going to try to be open-ended and ask questions in my blogs to promote discussion and commenting. When I begin commenting on other's blogs, I am going to remember the suggestions on the Cool Cat Teacher Blog to not "be afraid to comment" and to "remember the power of words." After all, the point of a community is to make its members feel good about themselves, not to ostracize them (hopefully). So here are a few questions for anyone out there reading this blog: What else can I do to promote discussion on my blog? What else should I remember when commenting on other's blogs?
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Blogs That I Follow and Comment On
1. And the Addiction Begins...I follow this blog because the author seems to share a lot of the same views I do. I left comments on the post about animoto, because we seem to agree on Animoto's uses
2. The Magister's Missives...I follow this blog because the author is amazingly witty and creative. I commented about the limited uses of facebook and Myspace in education.
3. Pros and Conwells....I follow this blog because the author has some very insightful comments. I posted a comment about how much we both like Facebook over myspace.
4. Ms. Hicks Has Fun! I follow this blog because the author is just plain funny.
5. I can Do This. I follow this blog because the author is a friend of mine. I commented that I agree that time is a big issue with all of these Web 2.0 tools.
Outside Blogs That I Follow
1. http://cantertales.blogspot.com/. This site is authored by a good friend of mine. I follow it to keep up with his writing.
2.http://www.whitehouse.gov/BLOG. I keep up with this blog to try to stay current on what is happening in Washington. Not that it matters, really...
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Hi Jake! I totally agree with what Doug Johnson said about people writing blogs because they want them to be read. It makes perfect sense. I made sure to put that in my blog post too. :) I think a great way to promote discussion on a blog is to write about something that others can relate to and would enjoy comparing their stories with yours. For example...I read a blog once that some guy wrote about his frustration with people wearing their pajamas to Walmart. He then asked if anyone else had any Walmart stories to tell and the comments were never-ending. Many of them were quite funny too. As far as what you should remember when commenting on others' blogs, I think showing appreciation for that person is one of the best things you can do. On that note, I'd like to say Thank You for writing a blog that encouraged me to comment. I'm one step closer now to finishing this assignment. Yay! :)
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