One of my favorite all-time movies is The Burbs with Tom Hanks, Corey Feldman and Princess Leia. At the moment her name ain’t ringin a bell and I don’t feel like googling it. It’s about a man who lives in suburbia, he’s lost his job and all he does is watch his neighbors. It’s hysterical really.
But that’s not what I’m going to chat about today. Instead, I’m going to talk about blog community. Blogburbia. I read How to Build a Community on Your Blog by Caitlin Muir at authormedia(dot)com on Monday. You can read it HERE.
She had some great tips. But, I wondered about a few of them:
“If someone takes the time to leave you a comment, you better take the time to respond.”
“When a reader comments, talk back to them and ask a follow-up question. Probe. Find out what they really think. They have stories of their own that are worth being up on your website. Get to know them like you were sitting across from them at a coffee shop.”
I agree with these statements. Completely. More than anything this blog is my online home. A place I spend lots of time. I take care of it and nurture it and I want all who show up to feel welcome, invited, entertained, encouraged and comfortable to share their thoughts whether serious, funny, or somewhere in between.
But I’ve found that when I leave a comment on someone’s blog I don’t have time really to go back and see if they’ve responded to my comment and to go back several times for a conversation isn’t always doable for me. In fact, 8 out of 10 times, I can’t.
I’ve seen it happen. One person commenting several times and if it’s valid that’s cool; sometimes I think it’s just to monopolize a blog, but everyone really knows this.
Sometimes I respond to each comment on my blog, sometimes it’s a general comment to everyone, but I try to always respond to a new guest. I’m not sure any of you come back to see if I’ve made follow-up comments. Do you? I try to twitter a response on occasion and my friend Heather Sunseri uses Disquis. So…I’m curious.
Oh yeah, it just came to me. Carrie Fisher.
Do come back Monday! My home will be freshly painted, re-decorated, the coffee will be on and an assortment of creamers will await you! Oh, and chocolate…lots of chocolate, friends!
And prizes! (Real ones)
