There are two definite types of blogs that I read. There’s the “Real people” blogs. Chances are, if you’re here and especially if we comment back and forth, you’re a “real people.” Congratulations. You tend to blog about your real life like I do mine here. No ulterior movies there. We both probably value commenting back and forth as a way to reach new visitors and you probably know a little bit about me.
Then there’s the.. other blogs. Those other blogs are like my other blog, actually. The focus is more business like. The goal is more specific. It’s all reviews and giveaways and coupons. There’s a lot of mommy blogs that I spend time on because mommies and me seem to like to save money. My review blog is sort of a fish out of water because I have no children. Granted, I think I started it before the mommy blog explosion but I’m often overlooked because my lack of parenthood. I chug along anyway.
And I’ve noticed that a blog is not a blog and things are done quite differently in those two different worlds. Real people try to respond to every single comment with thoughtful comments of their own. Real people use comments to form friendships. It’s not the easiest way but it’s the way things were done.
This doesn’t happen on the other blogs. Partly because comments are frequently a form of giveaway entry so there’s no freakin’ way a blog own can visitor hundreds of blogs and return all those comments and, because those comments aren’t heartfelt to begin with, who would want to? There’s a whole sense of anonymity and almost disconnectedness. It’s much easier to get lost in the crowd as both a commentor and blogger and it seems more difficult to foster relationships and friendships apart from working/business ones.
It’s interesting, too, that some of my readers on Reviews by Cole aren’t bloggers. It makes sense. Reviews appeal to consumers in general, not just those who have their own blog. So there may not be a blog to comment on in the first place. When you look at the giveaway participants, many have flowed over from sweepstakes communities and the same logic applies.
It makes sense, follows its own sort of logic but it sure would be nice if a blog were a blog and the same rules applied always.