31 Day Comment Challenge: Becoming a Better Blog Citizen « Curious Child’s Library Wanderings

Hmmm, the top 5 lessons that I learned from this challenge would be:

1. Commenting is not bad. It shows the blogger that someone is reading his or her words and learning from them. It also offers support to the blogger, because blogging can be a lonely business, especially if you think no one is, ahem, reading.

2. Sometimes you have to move out of your comfort zone to broaden your horizons. The 3 Links Out challenge introduced me to a new blog that I never would have found otherwise.

3. When I comment, I am “branding” myself and I need to be aware of the digital image that I am creating. Because my comments and, ultimately, my blogs are the initial ways that people are going to know me. And in the competitive field of librarianship , the image that I put out there is what could impact potential employers, speaking engagements or positions within different associations.

4. If someone takes the time to comment on my blog, I should take the time to respond. To do otherwise would be tantamount to walking away in the middle of a conversation which is something I would never do f2f and shouldn’t be done virtually either.

5. I can finish something, even if it is later than everyone else. So much for that adult onset ADD, huh?

Sue Waters Says:

June 2, 2008 at 6:05 AM

Chuckling. You are definitely not late in finishing (I still have to write my last post). Quite a few of the participants have been finishing off over the past few days and some plan of finishing at their own pace — which is what I like about the Challenge that you do what you can when you can how you want to.

What I like about the Challenge was that some of the tasks Michele set us were challenging and took us outside our comfort zones. Each of us have different tasks that made us feel uncomfortable and yet some of the tasks that felt the most uncomfortable were also the ones I gained the most from.

Congratulations in completing the Comment Challenge.

curiouschild Says:

June 2, 2008 at 12:47 PM

Sue, thank you. I felt so bad trying to finish everything up in two days! But you’re right part of the “fun” of the challenge is moving out of our comfort zones and that is exactly what happened. Funny how much of a pattern we get into and how hard it is to change.

Britt Watwood Says:

June 3, 2008 at 1:57 AM

Great comments, and I particularly like what you say about branding. Tom Peters in Re-Imagine! suggests that we are all CEO’s of the Brand YOU, and should be proactive about that.

June 3, 2008 at 1:10 PM

Britt, it’s funny that I never thought of this (blogging and commenting) as an online resume but it really is. And once we start job seeking, we are essentially marketing a product which is ourselves. Perhaps we would all do well to take a couple of marketing courses in college?