When I surf the social media turf, I usually open a whole bunch of tabs, read the article, and comment on the social media site entry. That’s all fine and dandy with news sites, that give no option to comment, but what happens to blogs, in this process? The Blogger Vs. the Social Poster Vs. the Social Networking Sites
When a social poster decides to do the writer the honor and tell everybody he knows about his post, he is at the risk of taking the debate away from the writer and handing it over- on a silver platter- to the social network. Social networks, as you know, thrive on the content that it’s users create- free of charge. It took me a while to realize, that the comment I had just left on the social network, would enhance a debate in the blog itself. Why did I opt to comment on the social network and not on the blog?

1. This might be the first time I’ve ever visited that blog. So I’d rather answer my social buddy than answer a complete stranger.
2. There might already be a debate rolling, on the social network, that’s just not happening on the blog.

How Can the Blogger Solve this?
Well, this isn’t easy, but if you’re a dedicated blogger, you already know there are technical things you must do in order to retain and enhance a readership. Whether it’s coming up with interesting titles, writing about breaking news or simply not having grammatical mistakes. In order to improve response to your blog you could do 3 things:

1. Leave a question at the end of the post, luring the reader to make a response.
2. Write about a controversial topic, that’s sure to spark debate.
3. Be opinionated, because if you aren’t- people just won’t care, and if they don’t care they won’t be compelled to articulate their own opinion. Do you know of any other solutions for the writer? (see what I just did there? )

How Can the Social Poster Solve this?
Social Posters are a very conscientious crowd. We all have an agenda. Whether we want our opinion heard, or we’re promoting a charity cause, or even a product- we all have an agenda. Because of this, I think it won’t be too naive of me to ask the Social posting crowd to think twice before they post a comment on the social posting site, instead of the blog.

Why Won’t the Social Networking Site Solve this?
Social networking sites are essentially built like forums. Forums are built in a way that makes conversation between people, thus, inevitably building communities around specific topics. Social networking sites have made it much broader: you can talk about anything you’re interested in.

Although the initial idea of sites such as Digg was to help you sort your news- a solution to search engines. You can rank the peace of news you found and you can comment on it. Problem is, as all sites, the idea is to make the site sticky. Social sites are a big business build of teams of people that actually enlist other people to create content for them. The lowly blogger is no match for this kind of power. In order for a blogger to be heard, today, they must participate in the social networks, thus fueling the network that may be killing him.

It’s true, social posting sites do give “the people” a voice and I do love’em, because they are, in fact, a vehicle to getting my voice out there. But then, so is the blog itself. And in the choice between the network and a hard-working individual, that posted content, moving enough to get me thinking- I vote for The Ramblings of Jon Doe, than the organized content-free-loading of Digg, Del.icio.us and the rest. Once again, power is centralized, seeing as there are always a few leading the many, I’m just asking whether social sites are another growing power to be worried about, too? And suggesting a few possibilities, how we can leave the power in the individual’s hands.

About the Author
Tali Shapiro is a freelance artist and writer, who learned the need for internet marketing, through a lot of bad personal experience. Now, after a few years of self-online-education and self-offline- discipline, she can pass on her wily experiences and worldly teachings through the wonderful medium of blog. Catch up with Tali’s marketing exploits on The Marketer Review.