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If we bloggers are able to present ideas in ways that inspire people to think, participate, and learn, then that is a great deal of the value which we can offer.

Everyone has had the experience of being taught by a mediocre teacher, and probably most of us have also had the privilege of being inspired by some excellent teachers as well. It has struck me that what happens on some of the best blogs is very like what my best teachers were able to achieve. Excellent teachers don’t just teach but rather inspire the students by creating an intellectual environment conducive to interactive learning. Less able teachers that I can remember seemed to have an “I talk, you listen” effect on their students while more inspiring ones were able to get the class to interact, and participate. By doing so they caused us to actually think, understand, and learn instead of just memorize. How do inspiring teachers make this happen?

Bloggers have one advantage that high school history teachers don’t. Blog readers do so of their own free will. But what is that ingredient that engages readers in the conversation so that they are compelled to participate?

No doubt to some extent this has to do with what the readers want. A few people want to be part of a community while many are just looking for a bulleted list of tips and tricks.

The truth is that we need both groups. In the Web 2.0 world we need the commenters because they produce User Generated Content and help to engage the rest of the community - and no, those aren’t the only reasons that bloggers want people to comment, but they are legitimate ones. Not many bloggers are going to be content with just talking to their self for very long. We also need the larger numbers of people who just read, even if they never comment, to leverage the benefits of blogging. Whether you’re hoping for add clicks, influence or links, a large numbers of readers is probably the key to accomplishing it.

Getting readers to participate may be the key to a successful blog.

What do you think? What causes people to get involved in the discussion? Can a blog be successful without comments?

Tags: Community //