Wednesday, September 12, 2012

What Is Your Comment Style?

While working on my upcoming series of five posts on looking at social tools from a cultural perspective in organizations with some of my favorites ideas in the mix I became curious about how people would describe their style of commenting on social networks.

One thing I have noticed is that while I get several comments sent to me via email and often from people I interact with 'in real life' there are rarely comments on my blog specifically. When I ask people why they choose email or in-person comments the most common response is that they feel more comfortable going off-line.

So are you willing to help me out with my curiosity? Will you comment here and let me know how you describe your own preferences for commenting on any online network? Maybe, if you are feeling generous you could include some thoughts on why you think this is your preference. Would you make a different choice if you were posting on an internal network at your workplace than if you are posting on an external network? Why or why not?

Lots of questions today!

4 comments:

  1. OK Karin, I'll comment as I peruse your most astute blog site (1st time visitor)... I just 'speak my truth' on-line, off-line, etc. I have just always felt comfortable to speak up (maybe too comfortable)... ( maybe, I just need the attention - LOL)

    As in 'real-time, non-virtual' groups, there are some that speak-up, some hardly ever, some never - so it takes a good facilitator to open people up - maybe it is the same dynamics of 'feeling comfortable in an non-judgemental exvironment' and how to establish such 'norms'and trust in a virtual world.

    I think most people do not comment because they may feel they will be judged, or they cannot 'see' who else is reading such... or they feel their comments may not be on the level of the 'author', or many other reasons (these are my guesses - only that individual knows)... it seems many need that personal connection rather than the 'virtual connection' - an old challenge for virtual communities...

    I am also wondering is it a 'socialization' issue or a 'locus of control' issue - or both?... it would be interesting to compare age groups (10-15, 16-20, 21-25... over 40)... hope others respond, it would be something interesting to learn about...

    Re: "if you were posting on an internal network at your workplace" - I think it would depend on the same dynamics as in real time, non-virtual meetings and interactions - culture, norms, comfort, risk, climate, power, politics, trust, structure, relationships, etc. ...although putting your ideas 'in writing' is cemented in time -and I think that would be more risky -more to loose ... unless the norms and protocols are established and trusted...

    All the best, Patrick...

    One thing I never understood is the 'prove that you are not a robot' test ...mostly because I am often NOT able to distinguish the letters as they are printed out by a computer - which is basically a robot... seems ironic...

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  2. Thank-you for your informative comment Patrick! I like that question you asked:

    " am also wondering is it a 'socialization' issue or a 'locus of control' issue - or both?... it would be interesting to compare age groups (10-15, 16-20, 21-25... over 40)... hope others respond, it would be something interesting to learn about... "

    It might be difficult to tease out the social conditioning from the locus of control question but it sure would be interesting to see some data on that. Hmm-the age thing-I tend to get a little resistent to age grouping because it is so often used carelessly but I must admit I am a little curious on this topic.

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  3. I comment on blogs when I have something specific to say on the topic of the post. One of the things I really like about commenting online is being able to provide links to previous posts I have authored. I find myself wanting to do that in person. Say 3 sentences and then say see x and y for more details :-) For some reason people seem to find urls included in person to person conversations as odd.

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  4. Thank-you for sharing your thoughts John. I have heard various perspectives on including links in one-to-one conversations-some people appreciate it, especially if it makes it faster or easier to locate more information on a topic; some people see it as 'pushing or selling' when they just want to have a discussion that flows. I wonder if it has anything to do with how we process information-some people think out loud-so rely on interacting with others to spark their thought processes; and other people like to absorb information until they have formulated an opinion or idea and only then speak up.

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