The Psychology of a Blogger
While writing my weekly track review post last night I thought about the comment system that many blogs use. Just about every blog I have seen is set up so that the blogger writes/publishes a post and then readers can post comments related to that blog post. This ability to have the users post comments not only adds to the content of the blog, but it also creates a blog community. Readers can all communicate to one another and to the author about any given topic.
What I really enjoy about the comment system are two things. One, the knowledge that someone has actually taken the time to read what I have written, which is nice. Two, the opinion or thoughts of the person who read the post, which are always welcome. I’m sure I’m not alone here. I can imagine that it would be somewhat disheartening to write tons of blog posts and never receive any comments.
One thing I have noticed in my own blog is that some types of posts have a lot of comments while some have hardly any at all. Namely posts related to technology articles or related to activities with friends receive quite a few comments, while the music reviews receive very little. This doesn’t really bother me and was expected. Music is one of those things where everyone has their taste and little reason to branch out unless they are unhappy with their own taste in music (which seems unlikely).
So what the hell does this have to do with psychology you are probably wondering? In psych classes I took a long time ago we learned about behavior modification through positive/negative reinforcement and positive/negative punishment. A quick psych lesson: Positive reinforcement is where you reward a behavior in an attempt to increase it, whereas negative reinforcement is where you remove a negative stimulus to increase a behavior. Pinching someone until they did your homework would be an example of negative reinforcement. Punishment works the same way except it is used to weaken a behavior.
What I am wondering is how much do comments effect the topics of a blog? Are bloggers being affected by the number of comments they receive for different types of posts? It’s quite possible that bloggers are changing the type of posts they make unconsciously because of the positive reinforcement they receive from readers posting comments for one type of post (tech related in my case) or the positive punishment they get from readers not posting comments for other types of posts (music reviews in my case).
I think it’s pretty amazing that something so simple as leaving comments could have such an impact on the content of a website. Through leaving comments, an audience could get a blogger to write about topics they like to read and stop write about topics they have no interest in. It is an interesting concept if you ask me.
I haven’t noticed a change in my own posts, at least not yet, but then again I have only been doing this for less than a month. Thinking back on the types of posts you have made in the past, do you notice any changes in your blogging style? Do you think readers’ comments have changed the way you blog?
BTW: I’m still going to write about this sort of thing even if no one writes any comments…
August 9th, 2004 at 4:14 pm
Response to the Psych of a Blogger
This post is community in motion.
I think the commenting patterns a lot too. When I left Xanga for my personal space a fraction of the people left to followed me to lazyi.net. Did that bother me, yes and no. Yes, because I like people to see what I …
August 9th, 2004 at 5:26 pm
haha, i was gonna correct your psych review, but then i realized that you were right. but yeah i know what you mean. i always get sad when nobody comments on my blogs.
but sometimes when i blog to rant (linux adventures), i dont care about what people have to say. and sometimes when i blog about strategies of random stuff. i mean i really enjoy naruto, and just felt like sharing what kinda thought i put into the fighting game. i’m bout to post strategies i have with risk games now.
but yeah, i do see that the general trend is that you comment to what you can relate to.
August 10th, 2004 at 1:24 pm
omg you really are the oracle. that’s awesome kevin and definitely something i’ve considered before. it always surprises me which posts of mine get lots of comments and which illicit none. i think i’d be lying if i said the # of comments left on my blog had absolutely no effect on my content. but more often than not, i post what i fancy, and often think, “hm, no one will care about this let alone comment,” but post anyway with the my blogging mantra (ok i’m making this up on the spot) in mind: i post because i want to.
oOh i figured it out, at least for me anyway. the lack of comments does not serve a negative reinforcement for me, but the presence of a bunch of comments does have a postive reinforcement, in a limited way of course ;).
jamie: “oh neat! people left me messages!”
it’s flattering to know people read your writing, you know?
AR. TOO LONG COMMENT. :\ bye~!