The Comment Economy

The Comment Economy is alive and well.

The debate over why it’s important to comment on a Blog has been beaten to death. It’s clear that comments provide valuable and powerful feedback to the Blogger. It extends the conversation, adds perspective and colour and – from a purely selfish stand-point – most people who leave a comment also provide a link back to whatever content they’re creating (sometimes it’s a Blog, sometimes a link to their flickr photos and sometimes it’s even a link back to their Twitter profile).

One thing is certain: comments are what make a Blog exciting. Beyond the conversation, the Blogger feels a sense of satisfaction based on the amount of comments they receive and the people who comment have a platform to have their voices heard.

Yesterday I posted my business column which runs every two weeks in the Montreal Gazette and the Vancouver Sun daily newspaper (Selling 2.0 – Let The Customer Do The Communicating). I am continually amazed by the flow of phone calls and emails from people saying how excited they are to read it every two weeks. Along with it being flattering, you win too. Here’s how:

The Comment Economy has an underground economy.

For every new person that comes to the Six Pixels of Separation Blog, they’re not just reading my Blog for the first time… they’re reading your comments too (and clicking on your links to learn more). The Comment Economy is as much about you as it is about the Blog owner. All too often, people read a Blog posting and have an idea of what they would like to say in the comment section and never do. The tragedy is not that the Blog owner will never see that comment, the real tragedy is all of the readers who will miss it.

What value does that have?

The number one reason people don’t have a Blog of their own is because they’re worried they won’t have much to say or worried they won’t be able to deliver consistent and fresh content. Commenting on someone else’s Blog adds tremendous credibility when building your personal brand and getting your voice heard. I’ve seen search results pop up on certain individuals based on the comments they have left on various Blogs.

The Long Tail of content extends into comments. The Comment Economy is still rich and highly under valued.

Think of the thousands of new people that might discover you simply because you left a comment on a highly trafficked Blog.