Wannabe Wino Wine Blog

“Video killed the radio star.

In my mind and in my car, we can’t rewind we’ve gone too far.”

Are you singing along yet?  Cause I am.  And I’ve been singing this song to myself for quite some time now, only with slightly different lyrics.  Twitter killed the blog comment.  Twitter killed the blog comment.  And then I hum the tune in my head.

I’ve been on twitter since March 17, 2007.  And for a little while, I was tweeting into the wilderness with just a few other winos, testing a new platform, seeing that new followers joined up, my blog readership began a steady uptick in traffic from twitter.  But it came at a price.  You see, the people most likely to comment on a blog (in my humble opinion) are involved in social media…they have blogs of their own (whatever the topic), they are one twitter, on facebook, etc.  And while those people, and others are clearly still reading blogs, twitter has moved the conversation.

I still get a lot of traffic every day from twitter.  But all those folks who used to leave comments on my posts….well, it seems they comment on twitter now.  And that makes me sad.  I believe that twitter has a place and function…but I don’t want it to kill the blog comment.  Because I think that people who wouldn’t normally comment on a blog are much more likely to come out of the woodwork if they see a couple comments on the post.  But those first comments from those who are already engaged in social media seem to be coming on twitter.

For example, yesterday I received these tweets about my posts, yet, between the two posts on the blog I only got 2 comments in the same time period.

chambertinone of the most important vinous RT’s of the quarter? quite possibly: RT @Sonadora http://bit.ly/QDgxNabout 12 hours ago from web

She_Loves_Wine@Sonadora I’ve wanted to try that for a while. It’s so odd to me up here bc I first assoc Schlum with Oil Fields. 🙂 I’ve heard it’s gr8.about 13 hours ago from web in reply to Sonadora

JuliaRosien@Sonadora Easy Drinking: http://bit.ly/WXeGt love that it’s peppery and still goes down easy – Glass for me please!about 13 hours ago from web in reply to Sonadora

mwangbicklerGreat post by @sonadora on winery tasting rooms. http://bit.ly/YnRnMabout 16 hours ago from TweetDeck

So not only does not seeing comments discourage “lurkers” from engaging, it also prevents other folks from seeing your thoughts and comments on my blog posts.  And it doesn’t drive traffic to your blog if you don’t comment.

I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else, but I’ve been making a concentrated effort to get back into commenting around the blog-o-sphere.  I think that while twitter is one strategy to draw new folks to your blog, making relevant comments on other bloggers’ posts is just as valuable, if not more valuable.

So help me remove a nail from the coffin of blog comments.  Join me, whether you are a lurker, former regular commentator, or other, and make an effort to comment on a few blogs a day.  I still get a thrill every time I get a comment on here, so let’s give everyone a little thrill.  And let’s not let blog comments go the way of radio.  Video killed the radio star…..

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