RSS Readers Hinder Discussion
I’ve been sitting on this post for a while. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with it, but figured I better get something down sooner rather than later. There have been quite a few posts (here’s one) written about blog comments. I’m not going to go into detail or share a whole bunch of links to these posts, but I’m going to put some of the blame (on lack of commenting) on something I haven’t read anyone mention……RSS Readers.
RSS Readers are great. If you’re not using one to help gather and feed various articles and posts to you, you’re missing out. If you need a little information about what they are and what they do, go here.
Back to the topic. I like using an RSS Reader, for me it’s Google Reader. However, the problem, that I see, is the lack of ability to leave comments on blog posts within the reader. With the exception of hearing about a post on Twitter, I usually view blog posts in my reader. In some cases, I skim and then click the “Mark As Read” button. I’m sure this is something many of you do. However, there are often cases when a post makes me think, makes me want to ask a question, or continue the conversation. Unless I head to the individual blog, I can’t do it. I often end up keeping some of those thoughts to myself, rather than take a few seconds to click around and navigate to the original blog. Sure, it wouldn’t take me long to do this, but if the ability to comment on a blog within the reader was possible, I think I’d be commenting a lot more. Instead, I scroll through my reader, checking out unread posts and moving on.
Think about it- are you more likely to leave a comment if you can do it in the same page you are viewing? Does taking the extra steps to navigate to the original post from your reader discourage you from leaving comments? For me, the answer to these questions is YES. What about you?
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:05 PM
I use Google Reader too, but if a post strikes me as interesting, I open it in another tab to be looked at again later, and then possibly comment. (But of course this one I went directly too for my comment!)
I dont mind having to link out, as it 1) gives me a chance to see if there are already comments there so I can extend the conversation and 2)more time to reflect and sometimes calm down my emotional response.
My pet peeve is that many bloggers DON’T offer a comments feed in their blog, making it impossible to follow the conversations. Some confess they don’t know how. I say to that, EZ, pick a new blog theme. No excuse is accepted. Ive dropped some from my reader for that reason alone before.
Once again, nice post. I’ve blogged about it before too.
November 24th, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Hi Chad,
Connecting the conversation is a very relevant topic for what we’re doing at Joyspoon so thanks for your thoughts on the issue!
I think there are two main problems with RSS and the conversation right now. The main issue is one which I feel most people don’t give enough weight to, and that is the low adoption rate of RSS amongst the non-techy crowd. This makes it hard for non-RSS readers to not only stay up to date on the latest content but also to sustain any sort of meaningful conversation. By making it difficult for the average web user to stay up to date on your content, you reduce the total number of users participating in the discussion right from the beginning.
For the users who are RSS readers, the main issue I’ve found is exactly what you’ve said above, the lack of an integrated community component.
I seem to get into a groove when I read RSS feeds and unless the article really speaks to me, I will very rarely click-through. And when I do, I feel the need to write long-winded comments like this. If there was a way to package the discussion with the content, I think it’d just become part of my routine and I’d become a more active participant on a larger number of blogs.
(Teaser: we’ve found solutions for both of the above problems, send me off an email if you want to see how we’re doing it!)
Anyways, always a great topic! Looking forward to hearing what others think.
John Robinson
Joyspoon Community Manager
Twitter: @Joyspoon