SubscribeWhy I Disagree with Chris Brogan on the 100 Comments Project
June 23, 2007 · Print This Article
100 Comments are not that useful. What’s the point? IMO, it’s a gimmick that promotes interaction, but not necessarily meaningful communication.
From this post at chrisbrogan.com. 100 Comments Project- Someone starts a post, we fill up 100 meaningful comments. End result: an e-book on a topic.OK I am going to weigh in on this 100 comments thing. I think the law of declining returns definitely is in play on this. I actually think it is very difficult to (one) take the time to read through all the previous comments and have something thoughtful to add and (two) expect that people won't do a variation of "me too" just so they be part of the party. It builds more of a bully pulpit and "comments for comments sake" rather than in-depth, meaningful conversation. Or enough documentation to justify an e-book.Though I really like the idea of an e-book built on collaboration from many authors. I just don't think a blog post with comments is the ideal mechanism for creating it.
100 Comments is like a huge cocktail party. I'd rather have dinner with eight new friends.
I'd also rather spread the love and the conversation by encouraging people to go find a new voice they haven't /heard/watched before, and leave them a thoughtful comment! You can find these bright minds by reading the comments on the A-list blogs.Here are a few that I read (in addition to the above-mentioned Mr. Brogan) that get a lot of comments, many of them thoughtful. It's a great place to go mining for the bright, unsung voices of the internet:
http://www.scobleizer.com - Robert Scoble for geeks and tech
http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/ - Toby Bloomberg on marketing
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/ - Guy Kawasaki on startups and business in general
http://headrush.typepad.com/ - Kathy Sierra creating passionate users
Then, go one step further if you like and add them to your Twitter friends and/or add a link to them in one of your blog posts. I did that earlier today for Bryan Person, an active member of the Boston new media community and with Rupert Howe who I met online through videoblogging.
Rox's Summer Project #1: Share the Link Love
Go out and spread the link love:
- The love of giving your attention to someone new;
- The love of talking directly to them;
- The super love of telling someone else about them!What do you think? Leave a short comment here - "me too's" are perfect in this situation I think! I'd love to know your opinion and, I want you to spend your quality time connecting with others. No need to craft anything special here.
For anyone new here, I love Chris Brogan and he loves me. We just have a different approach on this one!
100comments, chrisbrogan, bryanperson, tobybloomberg, robertscoble, guykawasaki, kathysierra, socialnetworking, roxannedarling, barefeetstudios, podcast
[This comment did not import correctly from our DB transfer - apologies to Jim!]
Author: Jim Long, http://www.vergenewmedia.com
Date: 06/23/2007 09:24:03 AM
Chris always raises thought-provoking questions. And he really has the leadership skills to rally people to his blog. Rox, you raise an interesting point here, and it takes a bit of courage and integrity to tell a friend.. "hang on here" and express dissent. Kudos to you!Having said that, I played along anyway. 
You can follow and connect with Roxanne on 
You can follow and connect with Shane on 
It's a good point. And I'm not sure where it will lead. I wanted to try the concept and see what came from it. Could comments form enough meat to make a useful e-book. Beats me. Not from what I've seen so far.
But instead, what I've discovered is that the thoughts and opinions of people in the comment space have led me to find new bloggers I wasn't reading before. Some of them do video or new media, and some of them are text-based bloggers whose stuff I wasn't into just yet.
So maybe it's more a cocktail and apps party than a dinner. BTW, I'd love to come to your dinner party some time. : )
Thanks for your insights.
Thanks for your comments Jim and Chris. Yes - Chris does (you do!) have great, thought-provoking questions. And I think it's partly bc I am a "Z-list" blogger that i see things from this perspective.
The fact Chris that you've already found some new voices? Very cool. But maybe in this case bigger isn't better. Maybe a little tweak: see if you can get 100 people to go out and find at least one new voice. It's a way to merge your reach with my idea of discovery and intimacy. I'll leave this idea on your site too.
Aloha, Rox
Discovery and intimacy is certainly a much better goal. Finding more voices and building relationships with them. Perhaps that will be project 2 or 3 in the summer series. Perhaps that will be yours to lead, and I'll just direct others here to pick up the starting point. : )
--Chris…
BT--Before Twitter, I had no clue what was new media or old media. I have since learned a lot from a variety of Twitter pals.
I love the debate and thought provoking posts from both you and Chris. Usually I sit on the sidelines and sort of take it all in, not usually posting a comment.
From my start at Twitter I have always felt it was a cocktail party and I enjoy moving from group to group of people. I definitely have an intersting list of friends--but there are a few that really make me think. Chris Brogan is one of those people and so are you Roxanne. This definitely blows the whole "Twitter is for kids" idea out the window.
Off to read four new blogs and keep the wheels turning.
Ann
P.S. You really are making me regret that I wasn't able to connect when I was in Hawaii...next trip for sure. :o)
Roxanne - thanks for your kind words. Chris' 100 comments is an interesting concept; seems like a sort of meme and one is likely to find a new idea or a new person to read.
However, I'm not sure about the purpose. Is it to write a series of ebooks? Is it to discover new bloggers? It is to drive traffic?
What feels uncomfortable to me is this game seems rather limiting. IF the goal is to discover new blogs or drive traffic. Unlike traditional memes that move quickly from blog-to-blog, this stays within the same blog until 100 comments are reached. Then someONE is tagged and the process begins again. I wonder how many people will have the opportunity to become a "host" of 100 comments? How is that determined? Where do bloggers with limited readerships fit in?
If it's to build a body of knowledge on specific topics 100 comments makes more sense, especially if as John Moore did with his Starbucks question, the ebook mentions the blogger and links back to her (or his) site.
Toby- good point. It certainly doesn't travel virally or too fast. Maybe that's a downfall of the project.
The idea originally was to see if we could concoct ebooks from comments. Why? No reason. I'm just trying new things to see if they work. Have you tried something like it? Not me. So I have no measure of success or failure on it.
Blog tag, which Jeff Pulver moved forward a lot several months ago, moves things at the pace you recommend. This wasn't intended for that.
Side effect of the 100 comments would be that it shows us new blogs to check and learn about.
Thanks for your thoughts.
--Chris…