Comments Mean Conversation

On December 5, 2008 · 8 Comments

I wish I could remember who originally linked me to Valeria Maltoni’s Conversation Agent website. I’d like to thank them. This was the site that finally got me off my digital duff to set up a feed reader. How long has RSS been around now? Didn’t Barney subscribe to Fred’s RSS feed back in the day? Anyway, this morning I saw a new item from Conversation Agent which was a clever play on a classic internet meme. The title read “You’ve Got Comments.“

Comments are something I love to see on my sites. It reassures me that the time I spend sharing my thoughts with the world is not entirely for naught. I read the post, went to comment, then had to tell myself I’d be back later. I must have gone back and read the post two or three times, all out of order too, before I felt I had organized my thoughts enough to leave a comment that wasn’t fail.

Personally, I hope to develop a community around my site, but not so much based on my site. For that reason, Valeria’s comments on scalability and facilitating conversations strike a chord. As authors, I think we all like the reassurance that comes with reader comments. If all we did was write to see metrics increase on graphs in the cloud, we wouldn’t need comments, but while the internet has allowed humans to connect to one another globally, it seems we’re still trying to figure out just what that means. The safety of relative anonymity on the internet is being traded for the potential of meaningful connections with other, real people.  This is no small step.

The subject of comments can involve the most self-centered of motives, but I feel that it’s actually on the cutting edge of social media and all those other buzzword-riddled subjects. Everyone is enamored with the concept of making connections and sharing with each other, but while Twitter lets me share my thoughts 140 characters at a time and my blog(s) let me share my thoughts 14,000 characters at a time, comments are where the real conversations happen. I think that’s something I want to work on.

So, Conversation Agent was my first RSS subscription. Today it marks my first attempt at a trackback. Kinda cool.  Sorry I ended up not leaving a comment after all, Valeria.  (I’ll keep coming back though, promise!)

In the glovebox:

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  • http://www.conversationagent.com Valeria Maltoni

    Thank you for the shout, you are very kind. The exchange that occurs with comments is the most valuable part of social media. Love the phrase up top there – flexibility and adaptation are winners.

  • http://dr1665.com DR1665

    Absolutely. My little phrase up there comes from this site being predominately a car project log for the last few years and my changing gears just when it seemed to be picking up. I appreciate your comment and look forward to following you on Twitter as well!

  • http://iList.com Brad

    Comments mean conversation. Allow myself to introduce myself. I'm Brad. Came across you on twitter and found the blog interesting.

  • http://dr1665.com DR1665

    Thanks Brad! I sure hope I can keep things interesting as time goes by. I think I've heard of ilist.com before. Twitter, maybe?

  • http://sunmoonstarsgirl.com Christine

    Speaking of comments – whatever happened to bonus points for things? You should have given bonus points to anyone who adds a meaningful comment to this post. :) Of course, I'm the only one who has them, so I guess I shouldn't be pushing for them…but I would still like to see another opportunity come up. As an aside – I've found myself adding comments as other people from their emails occasionally, both because I like to see the comments, but also because I want anyone who reads to see what other people have said – especially when it is something nice or I know they aren't sure how to leave a comment in the first place. I almost couldn't find where to leave a comment in your new format here, btw. :)

  • http://dr1665.com DR1665

    Christine! You know you're the current leader in “Cool Points.” I was *this close* to offering them up again since then, but I opted not to. Rest assured! There will be more Cool Points in the future. Heck. I'll give you another one for bringing it up and reminding me! How 'bout them apples?

    Are you saying you post comments anonymously, using someone else's email address? Oh! Wait a minute! You're taking comments you receive directly via email and converting them into comments on posts. That's a pretty cool idea, imo. The comments are valid to the subject, and it helps encourage further discussion.

    Hope you get the hang of Disqus handling my comments here. I like the way it aggregates all the comments for me. It's fully integrated with WordPress and FriendFeed. I'm hoping to get a handle on my social media before it ramps up and spirals out of control on me. :)

    Thanks for the comment. Keep V and I posted when the rally car might be arriving in our driveway next month.

  • http://www.loanmodifyexpress.com/ loan modification guy

    Personally, I hope to develop a community around my site, but not so much based on my site. For that reason, Valeria’s comments on scalability and facilitating conversations strike a chord. ————————————— i agree

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