calling me is about you. commenting on my blog is about me
These are two things I've wanted to write about for a long while.
Calling
Making a phone call is all about the person making the call, usually. Think about it.
Unless I've explicitly asked you to call me at a given time, what you're doing by calling (and, of course, expecting an answer) is imposing yourself on my time. No matter what I'm doing, it's good social etiquette to pick up the phone and then have a conversation, based on your leads, your needs and your initial desire to have said conversation.
It's all about you in this case. You want to talk to me now. And I'm inclined to oblige. Because you wanted it.
The culprit here? Synchronicity. I have to be "at the other end of the line" for a phone conversation to be possible. We are constrained by synchronicity, and thankfully we're beginning to very slowly realize this (in, for example, watching TV vs. TiVo-ing). We have been constrained by this for ages, usually because of the technology we've been using in itself. TV was live because there was no other technical possibility.
Back to phone conversations, the rise of SMS can, in perhaps a small part, be (also) attributed to its asynchronous nature. I don't have to read your SMS the instant it arrives, and I can reply when I want to.
Asynchronous media is the future. There's no doubt about it in my mind. I just hope it would also be more of the present.
Comments
On the other hand, the fact that you comment on my blog, in spite of what all the SEO, Social Media, and other types of "experts" tell you, is useless to you. Unless you're a troll with no life whatsoever, what could the value of a comment possibly be for you?
I'll tell you what it is for me. The more comments people see, the more they are inclined to comment. Which is good, especially now that we're all about bringing comments back to blogs. But why?
Why should all the comments ever made on one of my posts reside beneath that post on my blog?
So I can brag.
And what, you think commenting will help you? How? Do you actually think that a lot of people will click on your blog's link embedded in your commenting username? They won't. No one bothers to. You think I will notice you?
Well, I might. But I'll notice the fact that you're useful to me. That's all. Good job, keep commenting and driving traffic to my blog. Oh, you have a blog too? Sorry, I'm so busy being an influential blogger, I just don't have the time to check it out. But I'm sure it's great.
Wake up.
I'm not against commenting. I would just like to set the record straight on this. If you comment here, you're doing me a favor. And probably getting absolutely nothing in return.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:
These are general ideas. I have only used the first person because I thought it would help to better communicate my points.
