10 Reasons Why Blogs Are an Awkward Conversation Tool

One of the reasons why I'm a bit frustrated with what I see as "blog myopia" rather than a broader recognition of conversational media (of which blogging is but a part) is that blogs have a lot of drawbacks.

Yes, blogs can facilitate certain aspects of the public conversation -- very well in many cases.

Also: Blogs are a clunky, imperfect, limited, primitive form of conversational media. In fact, sometimes they can inhibit conversation, or even be used (consciously or unconsciously) to dodge conversation.

So in a way, it kind of bugs me that blogs are currently such a high-profile aspect of conversational media, because I don't think they're necessarily a great exposure to the experience. But then again, all conversational-media tools, even e-mail lists, have their own set of drawbacks.

So just to put these on the table, here are 10 reasons why I think blogs aren't always great for conversation...

AMY'S TOP 10 REASONS WHY BLOGS CAN BE BAD FOR CONVERSATION:

(Note: I pulled some of these from the comment thread to my earlier posting, "Missing the Conversation for the Blog.")

1. THEY'RE NOT INTUITIVE: Well, not to everyone, especially to non-geeks (and that's most of the world, folks.) Face it: blogs have serious usability issues.

Show a novice net user his first blog and he'll probably scroll around, looking bewildered, not sure what to do. Usually, an experienced blogger (or blog reader) needs to explain what's going on before the newcomer will relax and start to get into the flow.

2. THEY'RE TOO BUSY. Even the best-designed blog (for example, the new PBS blog MediaShift looks very nice indeed) tends to be visually busier than a decently designed weblog or forum. If you're accustomed to blogs, this probably doesn't bother you. But if you're not used to blogs, this probably bugs the heck out of you and discourages you from exploring and conversing.

3. WHO'S RESPONDING TO WHOM? Few blogging tools allow for threaded comments, like what you would see on a discussion forum. Threaded comments provide visual clues about who's responding to whom. (For instance, LiveJournal offers threaded comments. Here's an example from a LiveJournal community.)

In contrast, in most blogs you just see a flat list of comment after comment, which can hinder interaction among the commenters. This is why conversational media tools like JournURL or Drupal, which combine features of blogs and forums, are interesting to watch -- although they can get confusing, too.

4. COMMENTS DON'T NECESSARILY = CONVERSATION: Blogger Chris Edwards noted in a comment here, "How many blog posts do you see actual conversations on? You see people making points in public but they are not conversations in the conventional sense, they are public debates." He's got a point.

First of all, most blog postings don't attract any comments at all. Second, there's a big difference between "talking at" and "conversing with." In blog comments, you'll find an awful lot of mutual "talking at." For the record, this happens in a lot of face-to-face group meetings, too. (IMHO, I think that has more to do with the personality and writing style of the people involved, rather than the inherent nature of blogs.)

But finally, some of the most interesting conversations involving weblogs happen between weblogs, when bloggers post back in forth and engage each other. It doesn't all have to happen in one place. But until you're used to blogs, it can be hard to recognize that kind of interaction as conversation. Mostly, it's a matter of tone and using linguistic cues for mutual engagement -- a subtle art.

5. COMMENTS DON'T ALWAYS GET A REPLY: Well, actually, this is true even in face-to-face conversation, and it's definitely a conversation killer. I've been guilty of that sin myself, right here on this blog. (Sorry about that, I'm trying to catch up.)

Here's what I mean: Were you ever talking to someone who said something that interested you, but they weren't really listening to you in return, and they got distracted and turned away without replying or even acknowledging that you spoke? Yeah, it happens -- and it's easier to get away with online than face-to-face.

In blogs, usually this problem happens because replying to blog comments takes time and effort. When bloggers hit a time crunch, often replying to comments gets pushed down on the list. Fortunately, it doesn't just have to be the blogger who responds to comments. Anyone can do it. But yeah, it's polite to continue a conversation once you start it. Everyone should just allow for the occasional time lag with blog conversations.

6. (USUALLY) NO NOTIFICATION FOR FOLLOW-UP COMMENTS: Some blogs offer a really cool option that lets you subscribe to a feed or e-mail alerts for further comments in a thread to which you've contributed. That makes it easier to stay engaged in conversation. However, most of the time if you comment in a blog, it's up to you to check back to see if there was any further discussion -- a major hassle. Even I don't bother with it most of the time.

So it helps if, when you comment back to someone who left a comment in your blog, to shoot them a quick e-mail with a link letting them know you responded. Also a hassle, I know. But it helps build a community around your blog.

7. YOU CAN TURN OFF COMMENTS AND TRACKBACKS: Blogging tools offer a lot of useful features to support conversation, and all of them are optional. It's entirely possible -- and on rare occasions even a good idea -- to turn off comments. Granted, by doing this you severely limit your blog's ability to be part of the public conversation. However, for some people that's an acceptable tradeoff, and that's fine.

More and more bloggers are turning off trackbacks because (a) that system never worked very reliably, and (b) trackback spam is a heinous problem with few good solutions besides manual moderation. Turning off trackbacks does make your contributions to the public conversation harder to find. It's another tradeoff, but that's acceptable for some bloggers.

I guess, generally (with a tip of the hat to George Orwell): All blogs are potentially conversational -- but some blogs are more conversational than others.

8. PERCEIVED INEQUALITY: In this comment, Lawrence Coburn wrote: "There is an inherent inequality in the conversation that goes on in [blog] comments.  One insider, everyone else is an outsider." Yeah, I agree, that's a problem. Personally, I think that in most cases that's the audience's perception, rather than the blogger's. (Although it's true that some bloggers can be rather pompous, myself occasionally included.)

If you're over the age of 15, you grew up with a mostly passive experience of mass media: the publisher or broadcaster spewed content, and you sat there and soaked it up. You could talk it over with other people later, or reply privately via a letter to the editor, but generally audiences were expected to be sponges. That experience shaped the expectations and behaviors most of us continue to exhibit toward media, and it's hard to shake.

But Lawrence is right: This is where forums, online communities, and some types of social software have a major advantage over blogs. So far...

9. LOTS OF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE BLOGS, AND THEY NEVER WILL: This is why it's a good thing that there are other conversational media choices, such as e-mail lists, online forums, and even call-in radio. Probably sooner than we think, some other hot new tool will become the darling of conversational media, and blogs will become not just clunky but outdated.

So if you like blogs, don't get too attached to them -- focus on the public conversation. And if you don't like blogs, don't worry -- you can live without them, and there are other options to join the conversation. Deal with what suits you. Or avoid conversational media entirely, if you like. It's not mandatory.

10. IT'S MUCH FASTER JUST TO TALK: See how much effort I put into creating this posting to reply to a bunch of comments? I could have talked my way through it in 1/20 of the time. The effort currently required to converse via blogs can be daunting. There's no way anyone can keep up with all of it.

...So that's my list. What about yours? Any additions, clarifictions, questions, corrections, or disputes? Comment below!

Comments

[Denise]

Ha I would rather give you examples of how message boards are awkward conversation tools compared to blogs.

And, reasons why the awkward conversations happening here are more valuable than those on message boards.

Maybe Scoble should have called his book Awkward Conversations rather than Naked Conversations? Or how about Awkward and Naked Conversations?

[Amy Gahran]

ROFL, great points, Denise! Thanks.

- Amy Gahran

[scott]

Amy, great post. I think we're on to something with this "Awkward Conversations" thing...

[Amy Gahran]

I'd just like to note that Denise, who commented above in this thread, posted a very cool article about the awkwardness of conversing via message boards.

See: http://snipurl.com/lpto

Worth a read. It's a great complement to my article.

- Amy Gahran

[Chris Edwards]

As you say in point 4, there is a lot of "talking at", which raised in my mind the question of whether blogs are really about conversation. However, that might be a feature rather than a bug. Is it necessary to shoehorn everything into the conversation metaphor (just because every likes to say "join the conversation"), when the format of the blog makes it possible to have different types of communication?

Tools to track comments will prove invaluable over time. However, I think it would be a shame to make all blogging and commentary conform to one ideal. There are just so many different types of blog and blogging behaviour. The soapbox format will suit some blogs much more than others. It all depends on the community of interest that each blog has.

If you have a set of blogs written by friends, the mode of communication will more fit the mould of conversation. For large political blog networks, the style of discourse is likely to be much more along the lines of a debate. It may not fit readily into the 'conversation' format.

Or we may just redefine 'conversation' to cover all these eventualities. I like the old definition, but language changes based on usage. I prefer 'social media' to cover the world of blogs, wikis and forums but I'm late to this business.

[Chris Edwards]

Just a few more thoughts.

1. They're not intuitive. But once you've got used to them, it's quite straightforward (except for trackbacks, which only work once in a blue moon). Novice net users come across blogs all the time through search engines. They may not comment, but they will graze through the field of links. Eventually, they may decide they like the idea and get their own. If you design everything for the first-time user, there is a danger that you remove the things that make blogs easy to use on a regular basis.

2. They're too busy. Too right. It's like corporate websites where everybody wants their link on the home page. Except with blogs, all the pages look like the home page. My suggestion, pack the link-heavy blogrolls and other page furniture on their own dedicated pages and link to them from a left-hand or top menu. I went to a two-column format for two reasons: to look different (only to discover there were no off-the-shelf templates that suited my page layout); and to remove the temptation to clutter. I'm not sure it works as it's meant to, but at least it's got plenty of white space.

3. Who's responding to who? Structure would be good, but practically impossible to achieve. What happens if a commenter wants comments to cross threads? I think we may have to live with flat structures until someone comes up with a really clever way of organising comments.

4 & 5. I keep banging on about this but a blog is the one place where no reply is not necessarily a problem. That's a feature. However, maybe that's a media background talking: editors not replying to letters on page (unless it's to answer a posed question) is actually deliberate. It's to give the reader the last word.

6. No notification for comments. A problem. But sometimes people just want to make their point and move on.

7. Optional comments and trackbacks. Even if trackbacks are on they work like they are off. I can see the arguments both for and against having comments. Dave Winer's position can potentially work to the advantage of low-traffic blogs in contrast to other A-listers where the way to get a comment seen is to post on the A-lister's blog. But having comments gives people more choices.

8. Perceived inequality. Perception is everything in communications. You're doing a great job of pulling in comments here. Other bloggers, by their actions, do not encourage that. Who's the winner, over time?

9. Lots of people don't like blogs. Once all the shouting of "we're bloggers, we're so great" has abated, people will come to like them more. And, I believe the blog environment will begin to divide by approach. People will stop kicking cat bloggers because those home blogs will serve a different purpose (and get a different name) to those that become political soapbox or town-hall type blogs. I think blogs got going because they filled a need that could not be met before certain things came together: they made it easier for people to air their concerns to a potentially wide audience than they could at work or at home.

10. It's faster to talk. But over time, is it more efficient? You have to keep saying the same thing to people who might not want to know. Anyone who reads the post wanted to see it. They might have things to add. They might think, "yeah, can't argue with that" and move on. Or they might stop by on their way through following a bunch of threads about what blogs have become. If you would have to say the same thing to people 20 times over in other ways, you haven't lost any time by blogging it. Blogging provides some scale for when a debate or discussion reaches conclusions other people can use with little or no extra assistance. That might not fit the blog manifesto as it stands (too much old media thought in there) but using technology to provide scale is no bad thing.

Having written that, I am beginning to wonder whether doing it as a comment was a good idea.

[DrumsNWhistles]

I have to say that this has been a wonderfully enlightening...ahem! conversation! I put my "what I've learned" thoughts up on my blog as a contribution to the 'larger' conversation.

I haven't had so much fun thinking in a very long time!

[steven streight aka vaspers the grate]

I'm sorry. This post makes no sense, no specific examples, contradictions, easy operations called "hassles" and "pains".

Blogs that attack blogging are contradictory, so why use a blog to complain about blogs?

What's so much better than a blog for textual conversations?

I hate telephones, and don't bother with podcasts or wikis.

I have a complete analysis of this article on my Vaspers blog.

Post a comment at it in reply if you have time.

Thanks.

:^)

[Stefan Hayden]

A lot of your points are valid but they are all things that will be fixed in time. Alot of the problem that people have using blogs are more about their lack of knowledge of the internet. Technology is growing faster then my grandma can learn it and it might take a good 20 more year before 'everyone' understands the internet.

Blog are not going to go away, at least not the concept. Back in the early 90s people still had blogs, they were just called websites. There were people who updated their sites even with out all the fancy archiving and auto rss creation. Blogs might get more usable and they might change the name of them but deep down they will always just be websites that people use to communicate.

[Amy Gahran]

Stefan wrote: "A lot of your points are valid but they are all things that will be fixed in time."

Yep, that's true. And that's one thing that keeps me intrigued with all forms of conversational media. Right now, the tools are pretty clunky, but you can do a lot despite the awkwardness. And we're all learning new ways to converse, too.

Personally, I think that if developers focus more on facilitating public conversation rather than getting tunnel vision about blogs or any other tools, we'll see more useful progress faster.

Just a guess,

- Amy Gahran
RightConversation.com

[Jerome Alicki]

I think most of the folks who are reading my blog are absolutely freakin' nutjobs. Sure, I try to have conversations with them - I am a conduit of information on a few key issues and I am providing a service. But I also converse with them because there are a few out there that need a conversation to keep them from sticking their head into a gas oven or going out and robbing a liquer store. More than just providing a news source, I have become something of a counselor, depression advisor, lonliness antidote and all-around pen pal. This is not what I expected at all when I first started getting an audience, but expectations are for sissies. Don't get me wrong, I really like my readers and I hope I get more. It's just that some of them are complete whackos.

[Jeremiah Owyang]

I think blogs were intended at inception as a web journal

the feature for comments was secondary to the primary purpose of being a publishing tool for the author.

I agree, there are some shortcomings, but don't fret, a new technology is coming to allow 'conversations' to occur.

I consider blogs a 'controlled conversation' by the author.

[Beth]

Good synthesis in your post, now I have to digest your commentors comments ..

[Bob]

I'm sure my comment will be lost, but I'll contribute anyway.

My assumption: we're talking about following a blogger -- reading lots of the person's posts over time -- maybe occasionally even posting a comment.

The problem is that the language lacks a word that communicates the relationship that forms through the combination of context awareness (pieced together over time), the writers freedom to finish a point and broadcast it, the readers ability to touch the pundit through comments, and the ability for both reader and writer to watch the recorded views evolve over time.

It's clearly not just a conversation, and equally clearly not quite a conversation, that blog readers and writers are having. Is it some sort of cerebral interactive reality show?

I suppose this sort of experience could also occur in forums, though it seems to me it would more exception than rule in that venue.