To many bloggers, the idea of disabling comments seems sacrilegious. Comments are central to blogs, they believe. They permit conversations between bloggers and their audience as well as between different readers. That creates a sense of community and increases visits.
Once a fundamental part of blogging, comments are disappearing from blogs. Fewer people submit comments and many business blogs are disabling comments. More PR and marketing teams will probably shut down comments on their company blogs in the coming year.
Why is commenting on blogs falling out of favor?
Where have all the Comments Gone?
Some observers point to social media sites, mainly Facebook but also LinkedIn and other networks. Social networks make it easier to comment than blogs, which often require registration, and most people feel they get more “bang” or recognition from comments on social networks than on blog posts.
Most corporate blogs attract very few thoughtful comments, says communications consultant Arik Hanson, principal of ACH Communications. Most recent posts on blogs run by Allstate, Whole Foods and Boeing elicited no comments, Hanson writes in a blog post that had yet to receive any comments.
Even articles in major news publications elicit few comments. Chances are that your company blog has published no or few comments.
The reputation of a corporate blog may suffer if it has no or very few comments. Although corporate communicators should consider shutting off comments, they should reach a decision on a case-by-cases basis, Hanson advises.
“This ain’t 2011, my friends. The era of the blog comment may be winding down,” he said.
The idea is controversial. His prediction that more blogs, both individual and corporate, will soon remove comments caused “quite a stir” at the recent Minnesota Blogger Conference.
Downsides of Blog Comments
Blogs that have abandoned comments say they rarely spark meaningful conversations. They attract more spam, ugly rants and insipid remarks than worthwhile input. Moderating discussions, deleting and approving comments requires a significant amount of staff time. Increasingly sophisticated spammers have become more adept at circumventing spam filters.
Moreover, it’s difficult to measure the traffic and community value of blog comments. High numbers of comments may merely indicate that posts are controversial, not necessarily increasing website visits or contributing to business goals. Because only a small fraction of readers comment, the volume or content of comments does not provide an accurate assessment of a post’s popularity or usefulness.
Copyblogger, a well-respected blog on writing for marketing and PR, shut down its comments section last year. It published more than 130,000 approved comments in about eight years. That was only about 4% of the comments it received; the rest were spam.
Like many blogs, it moved its conversations to social media. The transition is actually good for blogs, says Sonia Simone at Copyblogger. They can still maintain quality conversations and can access a wider audience. However, she doesn’t believe all blogs should remove their comments. “Blog comments are an amazing resource for any blog when it’s getting started,” she says.
The Comments We Receive
On the CyberAlert blog, the comments we receive are mostly individuals looking to score marketing points. Comments are now “no follow” so provide no SEO benefit, although most commenters and many SEO services probably don’t realize that. The vast majority of comments we receive lack any real substance or insight.
Most are from overseas – and often contain grammatical or spelling errors. Our editors must review, vet and approve all comments to assure they add value for our readers. Most of the time, it seems a waste of effort. Sometimes, however, there’s a true gem of a comment that adds real insight. Those we’re thrilled to publish. For that reason, CyberAlert will continue to review all comments and publish those with merit.
On the flip side, when we submit comments to other blogs, we try to be sure they add value to the original blog post. That should be the goal of all commenters – even those who are just trying to score marketing points. Commenters must recognize that most all blog editors review comments before publishing. No self-respecting blog publishes congratulatory comments like “great post.”
As a marketing tactic, that simply doesn’t work anymore – and is a major factor in closing down a valuable channel for self-expression and sharing of expertise. Inane, spammy comments should stop. Companies using offshore services to do SEO should put the services on notice to stop empty-headed commenting.
Bottom Line: Corporate PR and marketing pros may wish to drop comments from their company blogs. Comments on both corporate and individual blogs are disappearing as readers turn to social media. However, it’s best to reach a decision on a case-by-case basis.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
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