(Quick update on my mom–she is still in the hospital but she made it through the surgery and after a rough patch is now doing really well. I’m sorry it’s been so quiet here. Lucy, I can e’splain! Guess who has been at a blogging conference all week? That would be me. Guess who left her laptop in the car at the airport on accident? Yeah, also me. I will blog about all that later, but for now I’ll give you this ditty. I wrote it for BlogHer but the discussion was totally interesting so I’m posting it here. Thanks for the understanding!)
**Additional edit: This was written for a huge website and was meant as broad commentary and discussion on blogging. Even though it can be frustrating to see commentary drop off in general, in no way am I whining or begging for more comments. Y’all are lovely and I am grateful for every single one I get on whatever place it is left and am hugely happy people are even reading. It’s been eye-opening to see how the different spaces evoke different translations. If I made anyone feel inadequate as a reader I apologize. Let’s hug, dudes.
I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook.
(Except for endless request to join apps and requests from Mafia Wars, Farmville and the like. Those I just simply HATE. With a blinding fury that I might have to possibly consider getting help for.)
I’ve been blogging since 2005, and I have been no blogging “overnight sensation.” (Heck, I’m not even a blogging “sensation” after 6 years. A ‘snstn’ maybe, but I have a LONG way to go before I can afford to buy the vowels to go in that title to make it complete.)
Whenever someone asks one of the “FORBIDDEN BLOGGING QUESTIONS” — 1. How much traffic do you have? 2. How much money do you make blogging? 3. Can I have the email address of your contact at Disney*, I cringe.
There use to be a saying that “comments don’t always accurately represent blog traffic.”
This has never been more true.
And I think a good deal of that is due to that big, blue, frienemy of the blogger called Facebook.
I was aware of Facebook from the first few months of starting my blog.
It’s a pretty long story but my first “fans” were in the Communications, English and History departments of a small university in Bemidji, Minnesota. And as I got to know them, I heard a lot about writing on everybody’s “walls.” It was mainly for college kids at the time, and I really gave it no thought at all.
I signed up for it at some point but it just sat there. I think I had an account for a year before one of my friends finally wrote something on my wall.
AND THEN IT EXPLODED.
And I saw what it did to blogs.
I saw what it did to my own blog.
Where I used to get an average of 60-80 comments a post. While I can still pull in 3-digit comments on the important posts, I am often lucky to get 30 or 40 comments now. (Sometimes I am annoying and flat out ask people to comment so my poor mother will stop calling me with worry that my blog is sucking up a storm. She’s cute that way.)
Also, a lot of people don’t have as much respect for HOW FLIPPIN HARD IT IS to get blog comments because getting Facebook commentary is pretty easy to get. (Don’t believe me? Log into your husband’s Facebook profile. Type “I PINK PUFFY HEART JUSTIN BIEBER” and get back to me on that.)
The commentary now sort of confuses and frustrates me. I am not sure WHY it is, but people will come from Twitter or Facebook, read my post, then GO BACK to Twitter or Facebook and comment THERE. I do it all the time (AND I LOVE ALL COMMENTS FROM ANYWHERE) so I am certainly not going all “I SHALL SMITE THEE WITH STONES, YE SINNER!!!” on you all. I just don’t get WHY we all do this. Why do I do it if it bugs me?
Am I in a hurry?
Do I feel like I need to reply in the medium I came in contact with the link?
Am I a freaking snob?
Why?
(AND WHY CAN I NOT FIND A PLUGIN FOR WORDPRESS THAT COLLECTS COMMENTS TO A POST FROM SOCIAL MEDIA AND PUTS THEM ALL IN MY BLOG COMMENTS?! I NEED TO KEEP TRACK OF MY VALIDATION, PEOPLE!)
And as for traffic, well … yes. My traffic has suffered. I am not ashamed of my traffic. It’s not amazing or huge, but for a personal blogger, it’s pretty darn swell. But for my length of time online, my reach, the exposure and opportunities I’ve had, it should be doing more. My growth has slowed WAY down since Twitter and Facebook became part of the common vernacular.
It’s taken a toll.
People only have so much time to be online, you know? Okay, those of us who make a living at this blogging/social media thing are online a lot more, but our time is STILL parceled out and stretched thin. Reading blogs now has to compete with a gajillion social media sites, with Facebook being the mother of them all.
HOW CAN WRITING ABOUT SURGICALLY RECLAIMING MY BOSOMS AFTER LOOKING LIKE A CAUCASIAN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC COVER MODEL AFTER GASTRIC BYPASS POSSIBLY COMPARE WITH HARVESTING YOUR OWN FRUIT AND DECORATING YOUR FARM WITH BALES OF HAY IN FARMVILLE, PEOPLE?! HOW, I ASK YOU????!!!! (Ok, that one actually did pretty well, but as history has shown, bosoms have magical powers beyond measure, yo.)
Don’t get me wrong, I ABSOLUTELY get traffic coming from Facebook, but I cannot think that there would be more coming to my site for longer/reading more, if it didn’t have to compete with Facebook. It’s like the homely girl who is deep and interesting having to compete for the attention of the boys when her college roomates are all blonde cheerleaders with plenty of exposed T&A. Sure, some will stop and get to know her and she’ll have a cult-like following that hang out with her in the student center but for the most part? But it’s more work and a lot more rare. When it comes down to it, it’s all about the quick and easy booty, people.
As a final disclaimer, I totally admit that the decline in comments could totally just mean that I suck. Or smell like feet. Or both. (Which would make me sad. And make me want to sob on Skype with someone. Or put EMO tweets about WHY DOES NO ONE LOVE ME ANYMORE?! Or eat an entire pie.)
I love Facebook, I really do. And I DO get traffic from it, but it’s been a little like watching Wal-Mart come in and take big, shark-like hunks out of the little mom & pop store that you’ve worked so hard to establish.
And I hate that.
But not as much as I hate Facebook apps.
Just so we’re clear.
What about you? How do you feel about Facebook? Has it hurt your blog? Has it helped your blog? Do you prefer it to reading blogs?
*I don’t actually have a contact at Disney.
**I think I am likely a wee bit weird for them.
***Although maybe my abundance of smiley emoticons will even the playing field for me! :) :) :) :) :) :)
I’m glad you feel like you can talk about this subject, because as someone who used to get over 200 comments on every post, I feel very stupid talking about how my comments have gone down, and now I am getting 150-160. That is still a crap load! And I am thankful for every single one of them.
I’ve just been curious as to what happened. I had noticed that other people’s comments seemed down too, and you’ve provided a good explanation.
I had noticed in the past couple of years that summer is always a low time for blogging, but it always picks up when kids are in school. Not this year. I have more readers than ever, but comments are down. Don’t know about traffic. I don’t check my stats anymore. Haven’t in months. It makes me a much happier person. :)
You have one of the most engaged commenting audiences ever, Kristina. Probably one of the highest percentages to traffic I’ve seen. But while it’s still a huge amount of comments, well, it doesn’t mean that the drop doesn’t suck or can’t feel stressful at times. Even if you’re grateful. It’s just human nature as I see it.
Unfortunately, I have to look at my stats for the buisness end of everything. I wish I could skip it, trust me! I’d be a happier individual! :)
Well, if this was Facebook, I would “like” this post! :D
Snort!
I’m commenting so you don’t feel bad that you only have 1 comment so far…..
Just kidding. I totally agree with this. I have a silly family blog but was getting about 100 hits a day on it from family and friends. Now they all just post on my facebook page. Which is fine with me, I am not doing it for a living. Just more of a journal. But it still is frustrating. It makes me feel sad when I see a big 0 comments at the bottom of my blog post.
I think you can block invitations to those stupid apps in Facebook. I used to get those invites all the time, and it drove me nuts too, until I blocked them all. I don’t remember how to block them, but someone smarter than me will surely be able to tell you how to do it.
For me, FB has no effect, as my blog is mainly just for me. I don’t advertise my posts anywhere, so social media hasn’t affected my “readership” if you can call all 5 people who read it a readership. LOL. I’ll always love reading blogs, and comment when I can. If a friend on FB includes a link to their blog, I’ll click on it and comment on the post itself.
I don’t comment much, but I don’t think you stink! I just rarely feel like I have anything interesting to add to the conversation. :)
I finally blocked them. But it still bugs me that facebook doesn’t make opting out of those things easier, you know?
I am a perpetual lurker, and am not your friend on facebook, but I read with almost a cult-like fascination to your life. My sister married your cousin, so I kinda feel justified in stalking you.
BUT, I’ll try to remember to come visit your blog and occasionally post a comment rather than just read your loveliness on my google reader. I’m assuming you don’t get the traffic from that. Sorry!
And, facebook apps do suck, but some of them are really fun.
Wait…who did your sister marry? I have, like, a gazillion cousins. :)
And chuckle about the stalking. I don’t mind being stalked by lovely people. Only creepy weirdos. :D
Paul. She married Paul. And she loves you tons, so there you go. I had to follow you too!
I swear I’m not creepy, not so sure about lovely, but creepy isn’t on my list of adjectives.
First: glad your mom is doing well!!
Second: you can totes block the application requests. The next time you get one there should be somewhere (when you hit ignore) to click “ignore all requests from Farmville/Mafia/Vampire/whatever new thing of the week Wars”. I’m sure you already know this, but I just want to make sure that all your readers can be saved from the annoyance of FB applications too!!
(And I’m totally one of those jerks who comments on FB before I click over to do it here (’cause I read you in a reader… so maybe that’s part of the equation?) so… YOU’RE WELCOME!)
:P
I have more on my mom and I wish it were good. Blarg. Nothing life-threatening but something I think is going to take advocation on my part.
I’m so happy your mom is doing well! YAY for good surgeries! YAY for Bemidji, too! I live within a couple of hours of there and have so many happy memories of vacationing there when I was a young’n! As a not very prolific fellow blogger, I feel your pain. I think so much of it now has to do with making sure your “friends” on facebook are able to see everything really important that you’re doing and saying. The narcissism/laziness quotient as I refer to it has exploded and if your blog followers are considerate enough to comment on your blog vs. on facebook, their “friends” aren’t going to be able to see what they’ve said without doing a lot more work. It’s one of the reasons I had to get out of the student affairs field as a lot of students belief of entitlement and narcissism has changed and grown dramatically over the years. Now my husband just gets to deal with it as he teaches them at the college level! I don’t know if this makes any sense, but I’m throwing in my two cents worth on your blog and not facebook for all my “friends” to see (cuz who really knows all their “friends” there anyway!!!)
I think Facebook has harmed a lot of things from the internet that used to be good, like certain chat forums (my dearly departed uni forum kicked the bucket VERY fast after Facebook got really popular). And while I’ve never thought much about it, Facebook probably also does harm blog traffic. I know plenty of people who read my blog, but don’t actually come to it because they’ve set up RSS feeds that sync it to their Facebook directly. Grrr :p
I also really hear your frustration in terms of the time blogging: views/comments ratio. I’ve been blogging now as a reviewer for three and a half years and my figures are frankly pitiful, even though plenty of suckers are still apparently willing to send me lots of free stuff for review. Hmm.
Delurking to say hi!! I read you in a reader also and will click over to the page when I have a comment, which is often as you can tell!
To be creepy….I HATE Facebook. Seriously. I don’t use the H word often and yet I use it wholeheartedly for Facebook.
Keep writing about you. We like “knowing” you.
That’s it. That’s all I’ve got to say.
: )
Maybe I am just old fashioned (which is funny since I am only 37) but I like blogs. I don’t do Facebook. Oh I have a Facebook account but I have never ever done anything with it other than sign up for it. My bookmark toolbar is full of blogs and that is how I prefer it. And just so you know Loralee, yours was one of the first blogs I started following and checking everyday and I am still here and not going anywhere. You provide so much entertainment for my husband and I. We will be around until you quit blogging.(Which I hope you never do btw)!
I have never replied to someone’s blog post on Twitter, even if I had clicked over to read the post from Twitter (or Facebook). I just understand the desire to have that feedback collected on the source that prompted such feedback!
Granted, my personal blog has stagnated as I’m not feeling particularly interesting or inspired… but I’ve seen changes in my running blog. The traffic totally isn’t reflected in the comments. And I get a lot of people who just reply to me on Twitter. Which I love, and hate at the same time! ;-)
I love Facebook. I can see how if I hadn’t made it my friend, it would hurt my blog (which is MUCH smaller than yours!). but I welcomed FB in and made it some cocoa. I’ve been on FB since it started and now it’s good that it’s my friend, because social media is part of what I do. plus I made a fan page and forced all my friends and fam to like it if they wanted to read (because then I could see who was actually reading and never commenting).
but really, I just don’t look at it like it’s hurting. it’s like my company is diversified and I have several different places people can find my product. it’s just one shop in the package that is my blog.
I joined Facebook only to keep in contact with far-flung friends, who HIGHLY preferred Facebook to emails. I begged to differ, but I’m apparently in the minority on that front.
My blog is very new and very tiny. I do find that friends & family tend to comment on nearly every post….through facebook. Which, while nice, is a bit of a shame. It would be even more fun if they commented on the blog itself, so a conversation between ALL readers might be possible.
Long story short, I don’t like facebook, but I accept it’s role in society today. I’d like it if all comments on my blog appeared, well, in the comments. But I’d rather friends/family comment through facebook, than not at all!
I rarely comment in Facebook. Perhaps I’m one of those people who pretty much sticks to her Google reader for blog posts, clicks over, reads the posts and then comments. I’m slowly falling out of love with Facebook…and I think that’s okay!
ok, i am so glad met you this week…definitely one of the highlights. and NOW i’m in love with your writing. i don’t often laugh out loud when i read…but i totally did.
yes, facebook is a deterrent but i’m also a “nobody” in the blogging world! MOST people read my posts on facebook, NOT my blog. whatev.
anyway….blissdom was worthwhile for many reasons. but i count you in my top ten!
xoxo
lisa
Facebook has actually helped my blog get found and read, but about 70% of comments end up on Facebook, which bums me out. Because well, if I get 1 or 2 comments I am lucky, at this stage, and then they end up on FB, with a post rarely getting a comment on the actual blog. For some reason, I do get emails about posts, and I am not sure why people would take the extra steps to email, rather than just comment?
*snuggles* I’m completely exhausted, but what I got from that was “please post on my blog to make me smile”
So, I posted XD *hugs again*
Also: ;D XD ;S Are three of my favorite smilies. :D
I have a Facebook account. I sometimes check it. Why do I have it? A friend had posted photos of her trip to Scotland there. Had to sign up to view them. So I signed up. I’m doing good if I can figure out how to view my friends list there. I put on my page that I don’t do the little gift/icon things. I think I have over a hundred that I should deal with, but too damned much trouble.
I haven’t commented much here lately mostly either because the subjects haven’t really grabbed me or, while interested, don’t know enough to comment on intelligently.
Maybe if you did more posts about that 21.8% (funny how that number instantly stuck in my dirty little pea-brain)…..
Yeah, I know that my posts don’t always grab every reader. My readership is delightfully ecclectic, so that is bound to happen!
And I talk about that number a weird amount, actually. Heh.
Chocolate eclectic? Or is that eclair? Ecleric? – No, that would be a televangelist.
I do really enjoy your stream of consienceness rants/rambles/tip-toes-through-the-mental-tulips episodes.
First of all, I am so sorry about your mom. That sucks. My parents are in their 70s and my mother is incredibly strong willed. But she lives alone so at least your dad is there…that is a tough one. Just being aware of all this means you rock as a daughter.
Second, LOVED meeting you in person. xoxoxoxo exclamation point in Nashville. :)
I have a love/hate thing with Facebook. My traffic from Facebook is great but my comments have gone WAY way down. We won’t even talk about it.
SOB… kidding!
Only not really. ;)
I think it’s just the nature of the social media beast. The vast majority of social media lovers are in the Walmart category…Facebook IS their Internet as one of my smart blog mama friends told me recently.
I personally love the Twitter so I guess I’m a Twitter snob.
Well, I read your blog but only comment very rarely.
Since I am not a FB-friend, there’s only one thing to blame: ‘google reader’. I like to read, but don’t care too much about clicking through to the actual blog (I am lazy, or busy, no … lazy). Do love your blog!
I kind of see blogs like books or newspaper columns. I read them, but never write them and say, “Hey I enjoyed your book/article”. I also have no clue how I stumbled onto your blog. Usually the blogs I read are because I have a friend who says hey you should read this blog. But you have been in my google reader for a year-and I have enjoyed reading it. So feel honored b/c this is my first blog comment ever to a stranger, well except for my friend Misti’s blog ( I try to encourage her on her weight loss adventure)
I know that Facebook has decreased blog posts. Several people I used to read regularly now only post on Facebook, and either have stopped their blogs or only post very randomly.
I’d rather leave comments here, but you seem to put up a lot of Facebook stuff.
Oh – forgot to say, from a male perspective, please feel free to post more bosom stories.
I am totally guilty. My first reaction to reading the words “Bemidji, Minnesota” on your blog was to run to Facebook or Twitter to tell you that I am from there and may or may not currently live there again. It’s a small town, yo.
Twitter has killed my blog. Snarky funny things I would’ve turned into posts now make it on to Twitter because my attention span and ability to remember anything these days is about 140 characters long. Triplets do this to you. Or to me.
I really do want to blog again. I just need a swift kick in the pants and a nanny.
I love facebook to keep in contact with friends and family and keep up on the mundane day to day. I still love reading my blogs that I follow much more, but that’s cause I am a reader. I love getting ideas, hearing about the lives of others more in depth and living vicarously (sp? didn’t want to google that one) through others. I love the pictures better on blogs and I just love blogs more. I do use facebook for my blog so that those who just happen to read mine can know of a new posting, but then they go back to facebook to comment and yeah, it bugs me. But I am even in a smaller field of readers than you, so oh well. I am just glad that there are those who still blog and I still hate twitter cause I feel stupid on it and just can’t figure it out. It makes me feel like I’m my mom.
I seriously hate the facebook apps. If one more person sends me some lame request for farmville this or thats I will scream! While I have been enjoying my time on facebook, the extra, random, time-wasting stuff drives me crazy!
Also, I try to comment both on facebook and on your blog. If I read something on your blog, I generally try to comment on your blog. If I read a post on facebook pertaining to other stuff, I post on there. I don’t like to post at both places about what I read on your blog for fear of seeming stalker-ish and redundant! LOL I totally get your frustration with this topic, but I absolutely don’t think it’s because what you write stinks. I think many people read it and just don’t take the time to comment. Seriously, I love commenting because many times you respond directly and that’s awesome. While time consuming for you, it lets your commenters know you care and keeps them coming back. Thanks for that! ;D
I have definitely noticed the drop in on-site comments. It feels disheartening, because the audience us still there, but the feedback is lagging. It’s hard to have that cocktail party at the end of an entry when people are choosing, for whatever reason, to leave their comments all over hell’s half acre.
I have to admit I first stopped my blog because something happened in our family that I just couldn’t talk about because my whole family knew where my blog was….
But then facebook took over – I do think FB is great and has it’s place – one liner statuses can provoke lots of interaction and I love the way it keeps me close with really good friends I don’t see enough of… but I can’t write how I used to.
I did love to blog – it helped me – it brought out my inner funny :) made me creative (which I’m not) and made me new friends. Ones I have on FB now that I only know through littlenuttree.
I do miss it. I’ve tried to start a new one – link above – but although I think about it every day I don’t get round to it enough. And the comments make a difference I totally agree. For me blogging was about the interaction. It took a long time of being persistent to get readers and I feel I’ve already done that I suppose. Starting all over again is hard work… and if no one is reading? Well. How much harder.
Good for you for being honest x
Today I “unfriend” facebook – twitter I still like – the cute bird and all – but facebook – you – for hurting Loralee – to the curb!
That is all.
Oh, and thank you for being so nice at Blissdom.
God Bless and Keep
Interesting. I can see that blogs compete with FB for online time, but never thought about the effect on comments. I only read you through google reader…never FB or twitter. But I also never comment, sorry about that. This is my first, maybe I’ll do it more often! :)
I think it depends a lot on whether the reader has a blogging account.
If they don’t, its reinforced to be a one-sided relationship. I the general reader, feel like I know you. But if I am anonymous, you can’t possibly know me.
If I have a link to my blog, maybe you’ll read it. Maybe you’ll comment on my posts. I can kid myself that we’re ‘online buddies’ of sorts.
So if I can’t link to my blog in my comment, FB is better. Then all of FB can see that I know the awesome that is you.
Possibly. Or not :)
The crazy thing is, I’m only a “blogger” b/c of facebook. I started blogging on myspace (hillarious) & then would copy it as a “note” to facebook. pretty soon, all my friends would say “i read your blog,” everywhere I went and seriously, I felt like something really special =) I finally opened up a WordPress account in 2008 b/c I began to see the possibilities. The only way I got traffic initially was b/c of all my facebook friends who liked my “notes.” Even now, my readers are basically lazy and connect to my blog through my FB fan page or my tweets of my post or ‘Networked blogs.’ I have been facebook dependent!
On the other hand, in this past year I’ve been trying to branch out and put myself out there in different ways to attract new readers from the whole Mommy blogging world. I’ve been a part of blogher for a year now and that has helped a ton. I could do more (of course) but I’m a mama to two little ones with a job outside of the blogging world, so I can’t give it much more…. hence, my dependency on facebook remains intact.
On a SUPER SIDE-NOTE: I have been considering going to Blogher this year in San Fran. I’ve been thinking about every day for like two weeks…so last night I had a dream that I did go and I got placed in your small group =) lol. We had this conversation where you were crying and I was comforting you. weird, right? and then all of a sudden all of blogher was on a cruise in which we came under terrorist attack. Yep, so I’m a psycho, eh? =)
And I thought I was the only one having the same problem. Though I don’t expect too much of comments coz I know only few really get into poetry or not that much would really comment about my use of metaphors and meters but before one poem can at least have 10 comments..now I get 1 or 3. It’s a puzzle also for me why readers have to really go back to facebook to comment instead of leaving it on your site. I guess it’s the thought of their friends seeing their intelligent comment.