Are You Being A More Effective Blogger By Tracking Comments?

Tips For Better Blogging, Working With Web 2.0 Tools

Are You Being A More Effective Blogger By Tracking Comments?

When I leave comments on other blogger’s posts I like to be notified on any new comments that are posted. Maybe it is just me? But comments by other readers and response(s) by the blogger help my learning. Being notified of follow up comments means I can choose to continue the conversation by returning to…

Sue Waters

March 1, 2009

2 minutes

bb31days, Bloppy, coComment, comment tracking, Commentful, comments

Being notified of follow up comments means I can choose to continue the conversation by returning to the post to add further comments — this makes me a more effective blogger. Needless to say, after 18 months of tracking comments, I’m ‘quite’ good at it.

Subscribing by RSS

There are several comment tracking services that allow you to subscribe to new commenting by RSS using your feed reader. RSS is always my preferred choice when available because it makes my life easier.

I was using co.mments and cocomment but co.mments was discontinuing their services and shut down as of today!

Here is my detailed post on how to keep track on of new comments on other bloggers’ posts using cocomment. One definite benefit of cocomment is if your comment is accidentally lost and you can normally find a copy of what you’ve written in your cocomment account e.g. your comment failed to post due to problems with the anti-spam word.

I’m now also using Commentful which is okay, as a backup, but doesn’t give me the type of RSS feed I like.

Subscribing by Email

There are several options if you prefer email to RSS.

Some bloggers use the Subscribe to Comments plugin which allows readers to select ‘Notify me of followup comments via e-mail’ when they write comments. This means each time a new comment is posted you will recieve an email.

For posts that don’t have the option to ‘Notify me of followup comments via e-mail’ you can always use:

Commentful
Bloppy
Cocomment – select email notification in your account settings

Both comment tracking services provide the ability to track comments by email.

FINAL THOUGHTS

People often ask me how I’m able to respond quickly to comments on other bloggers posts. Hopefully this has answered those questions.

Would love to hear your thoughts! Do you like to track comments on other bloggers posts? If so, what is your method(s)? What tips do you have for being more effective at tracking comments?

This was part of the Day 8 Task for Building a Better Blog.

17 responses to “Are You Being A More Effective Blogger By Tracking Comments?”

Holly

March 1, 2009 at 11:50 pm

Sue, I love the way your blog posts and tweets make me laugh out loud, often! Laughter is so good for the spirit, to get through the day(s)!

Today, your “(quite) good” made me laugh!

I agree with you that tracking followup comments to others’ blog posts is often rich source material for valuable reflection.

I did not know about cocomment; I’m off to learn more about it now.

I also need to learn how to add the option of the check box for “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” to my blog posts. [I’m guessing you’ve covered that for Edublogger somewhere; I’ll have to search for it!]

Thanks for all your contributions to this wacky and wonderful virtual learning network journey we are embarked upon,
Holly (AKA “Smilin7” / “Smiling7” / “blogblossoms”)

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Sue Waters

March 2, 2009 at 6:47 am

@Holly glad both my posts and tweets make you laugh. Cocomment definitely has a steep learning curve to learn how to use compared to co.mments. But at the moment if you want RSS it is the best option.

Don’t think I have added a post on how to add the notify option but I would recommend you use it. You will need to be an Edublogs supporter. Then go to plugin tab and click on activate next to Subscribe to Comments plugin.

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Matthew Bibby

March 2, 2009 at 9:41 pm

Great post, thanks Sue.

I had tried tracking posts manually in the past, which was not very fun!

On looking around I also found BackType which may be of interest:

http://www.backtype.com/

Thanks again,

Matt.

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1. Sue Waters
  
  March 19, 2009 at 12:53 pm
  
  Yes tracking comments manually isn’t much fun, Matt. Sorry for slow response – have you now tried backtype and how are you finding it?
  
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Marie

March 4, 2009 at 12:40 pm

Okay, I’m red-faced. I answered my own questions. I see, when I go to make a comment, the cocomment box appears at the bottom … it wasn’t there when I put my previous comment in, honest!

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1. Sue Waters
  
  March 19, 2009 at 12:54 pm
  
  Oh Marie, trust me I am the red faced person at the moment. Made changes to my account and didn’t realise the comments were being sent to the wrong email account – if we keep it quiet no one will know.
  
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teachingcommons

March 5, 2009 at 11:23 pm

Interesting post…thanks very much Sue. It’s definitely something to consider for our blog (www.shef.ac.uk/goodpractice). Our teachingcommons project (www.shef.ac.uk/teachingcommons) is about getting people together to talk about learning and teaching and we really want to get a bit more interactive on our blog comments – especially given that the blog aims to be a forum for exchanging good practice at the University!

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1. Sue Waters
  
  March 19, 2009 at 12:56 pm
  
  Glad you found the post useful. Making the time to interact with people who leave comments is really important! And message to self make sure when you make changes you don’t impact on ability to monitor comments on your own blog 🙂
  
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Albert

March 25, 2009 at 6:34 pm

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Natasa

April 1, 2009 at 6:15 am

Hi Sue,
How can I add the “Subscribe to comments by email” option to a Blogger blog?
Natasa

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Sue Waters

April 1, 2009 at 8:44 pm

Hi Natasa, That option is automatically available for people to use if thye sign the comments with the google account. Here is more information

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Natasa

April 2, 2009 at 8:02 am

Of course it is. It’s been there all along. And I thought I had to add something.
Suddenly I feel really silly.

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1. Sue Waters
  
  April 2, 2009 at 8:04 am
  
  Definitely don’t feel silly Natasa – I couldn’t think of the answer either and had to Google it. Once I found the answer I realised, like you, it was obvious.
  
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emapey

June 7, 2009 at 10:13 am

I bookmark the post where I left a comment and save it on my emapey’s comments Bookmarks on Delicious using the tag: comments.

Note that this is one of About Me bundle tags on Delicious This is how I Use Del.icio.us to Create my Eportfolio

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1. Sue Waters
  
  June 7, 2009 at 7:45 pm
  
  Tracking comments has become a huge headache for me. Co.mments was the best and made it really easy. Cocomments is good but often struggles to track the conversations well.
  
  Unfortunately I have now started using notify by email, where it is an option, to make the task easier. Not sure if delicious would help me as I want to know when a new comment is posted and respond to it if I choose.
  
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emapey

June 8, 2009 at 1:10 am

At least with Delicious I can remember those posts where I added comments. My comments tag is part of my eportfolio on Delicious

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1. Sue Waters
  
  June 9, 2009 at 1:16 pm
  
  True and very good point. People can use Cocomment to see where I am commenting. Just wish co.mment hadn’t closed shop!
  
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