Fast forward to present day and his dream has come true. In the age of blogging and social media, we are more connected than we ever have been before. You can not only communicate directly with practically anyone, but possibly interact with them too.
That’s essentially what I want to focus on today: reciprocation. Many bloggers and social media personalities don’t reciprocate, even if their brand implies that they will. Some embrace interaction on the web and make the most of it to boost their brand, while others use and abuse the concept of interaction to meet their ends.
In this post I want to give my opinion on how bloggers should communicate with their readers and peers online, to their own gain and for the betterment of the community as a whole.
There is No Right or Wrong
Let’s get one thing clear: from its birth, blogging was intended to be an interactive experience. Comments are a mainstay of most blogs, contact pages imply reciprocity of communication, and so on.
But whether bloggers have a responsibility to interact with their readers is another matter altogether. One cannot state that a blogger must reply to all comments and emails. There could be any number of reasons why one should or shouldn’t.
My point is this: despite blogging’s clear prioritization of interaction, bloggers should not feel like they have to interact with their readers. It is not a prerequisite.
What I Think
With that said, my position on the arguments for and against communication in the blogosphere are clear: if you imply that you will interact and engage, you must do so — without exception.
That may sound like a tall order, but anything less is unacceptable. If you say you’re going to do something, do it.
I do not necessarily mean that you should personally reply to everyone who reaches out to you (although that is my ideal). It is up to you to set the rules. Your means of interaction could be as simple as an automated email responder that says, “I get loads of email and I may not be able to respond; sorry if I don’t.” The key is to make the limitations of your interaction clear from the outset.
The Grey Area of Interacting
There is a big grey area in the world of interaction. It is characterized by those who (through ignorance or arrogance) demonstrate a lack of appreciation for your time.
A good example would be those who reach out to me with an email like the following:
I would like to become a successful freelance writer. Do you have any tips for me?
Completely open ended questions are the bane of my email existence. While I believe that most of the people who ask these questions are entirely well-intentioned, that doesn’t make their email any less frustrating.
However, the answer is not to ignore them. Regardless of what they say in their email, they took the time to reach out to you, and if you have implied that you will respond, you must do.
Under such circumstances I will typically send the person a quick email asking them to clarify their question. It only takes five seconds and puts the onus on them to reply in a practical manner.
What About People Who Really Don’t Deserve a Response?
There are two situations under which I believe you have no responsibility to interact in the blogosphere:
- When you receive spam (this includes mass emails sent via BCC)
- When someone is being rude to you
You can ignore the above with impunity.
However, for the most part I’ll say this: if in doubt, you should probably respond. What you might perceive to be a lack of respect for your time (or for your character) may simply be ignorance on the other person’s part. Be an optimist, assume that they respect your time and give them a second chance.
How Will This Benefit You
First of all, by responding to everyone in a polite and helpful manner, you will set yourself above most bloggers out there. It’s perhaps the easiest way to differentiate yourself.
I say this from personal experience. I have made a point of almost always responding to people who reach out to me, and it seems to have had a positive impact on my blogging career.
Those amongst us who think of our readers as individuals — rather than a collective — tend to build a loyal base of readers and subscribers.
Above all else, I recommend that you remember the following: each person who emails you is a person. they have fears, aspirations and goals like you. Don’t treat them like a statistic; treat them like a human being. In return you will often find that they will go out of their way to help you in their own ways.
How to Manage Overload
The main issue with personal interaction is that it’s not scalable.
All things being well, there will be a point where interacting with everyone may be too much. Personally speaking, the way things are going, I’ll need to adjust my depth of interaction with my readers at some point in the future.
So how should you handle that?
I’ll tell you what not to do (which is what most bloggers do) — you shouldn’t simply stop interacting with people. That shows a distinct lack of respect for your readers.
A simple first step is to make it clear (typically on your contact page and comments area) that you may not be able to reply to all messages. That way, you can cherry pick those people who you think deserve your time the most and still interact with them.
An alternative option is to limit the amount of people who are interacting with you. There are many ways in which you can do this, but here’s a few suggestions:
- Add rules for commenting and remove backlinks to commenter’s sites (this’ll cut down those people who are only commenting to get a link).
- Add a forum to your site, take on some volunteer moderators and direct people to the forum from your contact page.
- Encourage people to reach out to you via Twitter on your contact page (this limits the length of messages you receive).
- Create a Frequently Asked Questions page.
The cardinal rule is this: people must either know that they won’t get a response, or you must respond in some shape or form. No exceptions.
If you break that rule, your reputation will begin to suffer. That aside, I just think it’s plain rude.
How Do You Interact on the Web?
I’ve shared my opinion with you here, but I’d love to know how you interact on the web and why.
There is certainly no “correct” way to go about it, so I’d love to know your methods and the thinking behind them. Fire away in the comments section below, and as always, I will reply!
Photo Credit: StockMonkeys.com