Thing #4 Commenting

Commenting, more so than simply writing the blog is what I believe makes it such a popular form of self expression. It is what allows blogging to be considered a form of social networking because without commenting a blog would not much be much different than your run of the mill website. If commenting on blogs did not exist, the blogger would have no way of knowing that their blog was proving beneficial, interesting, or even being read by others.  Being able to comment on blogs creates a sense of community because oftentimes, or at least I did, commenters will post about something they can relate to or identify with.  Its a nice feeling to know that experiences you go through or challenges you face are shared by others around the world. 

The two points from the readings that I found to be especially important were both from the 10 techniques to get more comments on your blog.  I liked the advice about being humble because I find that some of the most popular blogs are those about everyday working people going through challenges; people like me and you! I also think its important to ask questions in your blog or at least be open ended because this gets your readers thinking and also most importantly gives them something to answer and therefore comment on!

I chose to comment on Stephanie Freeman, Stephanie Fortner, Alexa Aguilar, Whitney Butts and Catherine Ericson's blogs.  And as far as outside blogs goes I commented on Smittenkitchen and Bakeralla (two recipe blogs)

For Stephanie Freeman I commented on her way of describing a blog as a "giant, well organized yearbook," which I thought was a great way to describe it! I commented on this because it really stood out to me since unlike Stephanie, I haven't thought to describe a blog as anything other than just a blog.

For Stephanie Fortner I commented about her experience creating her avatar.  I wanted to know that her stuggle and time spent in Doppleme was shared by at least myself, which is what led me to make my comment.

For Alexa Aguilar I commented on her mention of being a competent, effective learner as her most difficult lifelong learning habit.I commented on this part of her post because we both share the same hardest lifelong learning habit.  In the end I told her that we both need to realize that we are in fact competent and effective learners or we would not be in graduate school!

For Whitney Butts I commented about how I, like herself, have been unable to write for pleasure because school has been consuming so much of my time.  I chose to comment on this section of her blog because I found it to be an interesting commonality that we share.

For Catherine Erikson I commented on her use of humor to describe the appearance of her avatar and made mention of my failed attempt to use my Doppleme coins. I wanted to say something about her humor because I have yet to explore adding some comic relief to my blog posts.

On Smitten kitchen I commented on a recipe for zucchini crips which look like zucchini potato chips.  I remarked about how even though I do not like zucchini that this may be something that I might have to try because of how good it looks. 

On Bakeralla I commented on a recipe for peach pies. They looked absolutely delicious and I loved how clear the directions were to make them so I commended the author on that in my comment.