So yesterday when I posted I also sent out a tweet alerting people to my new post, to which I received this reply:
@flexnib I find the inability to simply like a post frustrating. Makes a blog seem very old fashioned. Not really social media!
— Peter Green (@lgreenpd) June 1, 2016
Is a “like” really social?
When Twitter started becoming a bit more popular I found that whenever I posted something here, people commented on Twitter rather than coming and responding here directly. The various platforms certainly make it a lot easier to respond on the fly than blogs do. If you’re going to come and post a comment here you actually have to stop, leave me a name and get through some anti-spam thing before your comment gets through. (I think I even moderate comments for first-time commenters.) It is a lot more complicated.
Apart from comments the other major social element of blogging is linking to someone else. It takes more time to do though…
I think the doubletap (to “like” something on Instagram for instance) can be a reflex action when you’re going through your timeline and all those French Bulldog photos. Sometimes I find myself “liking” something that’s really sad news, for instance. I usually stop myself, “unlike” the photo, and go back and make a comment instead.
Here’s a recent photo I posted on Instagram. One of my most “liked” so far, I think. I also had twelve comments. Those did add a little more dimension to the “likes”.
One thing I’ve noticed on Instagram, whenever someone makes a rude comment – or just a comment others take offense to, the other regular commenters there usually shout the rude commenter down. It’s quite self policing in that sense.
I don’t know what point I’m trying to make here?! The social is way easier on the newer social media platforms. They’re geared for it. Pictures are easier to respond to. Making links takes time. Comments take time. Thanks for your comments! 🙂
Thanks to Abigail, Peta, snail and Rachel for your comments in response to my post!
12 Comments
I suppose a “like” is confirmation that someone has read it, and appreciated it – or at least stopped and noticed it! In terms of social media currency, a like is flattering, but doesn’t really add a lot of value to the conversation – I suppose you know though that if you have more “likes”, it is reaching a particular group of people or filling a niche (or maybe people just love pictures of chihuahuas 😀 <3)
Blogging does seem to take more effort (both to construct thoughtful posts), and to comment (particularly the trials of doing that on a mobile device!). Tumblr does allow you to love posts though, but blogs haven't quite caught on…
Interesting post – thanks for sharing your thoughts 🙂
Yeah, a “like” is pretty limited, really. All it says is that someone’s seen your post. You really have no idea what they’re liking about the picture. I can’t always predict which of my photos will receive lots of likes.
I really want to do some research on liking practices, looking at what a like means in different spaces, for different people, on different types of posts… I think it’s a really interesting practice.
That would be an interesting topic! I’ve noticed the Twitter “favourite” – some people use it a lot more than others. I must confess I seldom favourite tweets because I’m super aware that the tweeter gets a notification that their tweet has been favourited, and I don’t want them to know I’ve favourited their tweet. I’m sure I’m being neurotic about that…
I responded to Peter’s tweet yesterday and subsequently realised that on blogs on wordpress.com do have a ‘like’ option for those who have an account on that platform.
I think the experience of commenting on blogs is a bit tedious too, so they are to be valued much more highly than a like on twitter, facebook or instagram where it is easy to like something without meaning to by just scrolling through and making an accidental double-tap.
I have a disqus account and a wordpress.com account so I’m finding that commenting this month is not so difficult on blogs using those services as my login is remembered and I just have to comment. Blogs on individual hosts I still have to go through the process. (at least chrome remembers values for commonly filled in forms) So, if any of you non-wordpress.com bloggers want to try using disqus instead I’d say give it a go.
I’m sure I have a disqus account but of course I can’t recall the details…
I use Instagram a lot and I do find that sometimes I’m liking pictures without paying attention to the words. It’s an interesting question, is it appropriate to ‘like’ an image attached to sad or difficult news? What’s implied by liking or hearting a post? There are times where, like you I’ll go back and make a comment rather than like a post. I’ll use emojis to set my tone too.
There’s so much to consider, it’s like learning another language, and every platform is different…
As a social media consumer, I do like the convenience of the simple ‘like’. But there are times where I feel blunted by just ‘like’-ing stuff. Moved to apathy, maybe. Sometimes I go out of my way to leave a comment because it feels a bit more human. Maybe old-fashioned isn’t such a bad thing, flexnib. 🙂
“Liking” can just be a reflex action as part of viewing your timeline. I sometimes find I just scroll, like, scroll, like, scroll… and then have to stop myself and look more slowly and try to leave comments!
I ‘favourite’ on twitter, I’m less of an instagram consumer but I do use the ‘like’ and almost never ‘like’ on Facebook. There’s various theories about how FB uses your ‘likes’ but even if none of that is true, it made me realise that it really doesn’t take me that much longer to tell my cousin her kid is cute in words and I do think it makes for a richer experience all round.
One of the things I love about #blogjune is the commenting and engagement in the longer form 🙂
Thanks for your comment, Clare, it’s appreciated 🙂