The Importance of Feedback

Remember April 30, when I said I'd post a blog regularly every five days? Obviously, I failed in that regard. I realized how hard it is to actually find time to blog and topics to blog about. Especially last month, since I was attempting vlogging every day, and had a bunch of exams and assignments for whatever reason. I also realized the other day that YouTube takes up a lot of my time. Despite the fact that I hardly post videos on my personal channel, I make at least two videos a week; one for WTVlog, and one for reinixtonks.

I was legitimately surprised when a few people noticed I hadn't posted a thing since April. I didn't think anyone actually came on here. The lack of comments makes me think no one does. There's something about comments that actually motivates people to put up more content. Sure, anyone can know how many hits their pages get by just looking through the statistics, but they don't really know people stuck around and read what they had to say. And even if people with websites had crazy stalker stats that told them how long others stayed on a page, they don't know what these others thought of the page.

Don't underestimate the importance of feedback, kids. (Okay, this is the first and last time I refer to my readers as "kids." It seems condescending. Also, I'm only 19 years old. Who am I to call others "kids"?) Feedback has a huge influence on how webmasters run their sites and how companies improve their products. There's no way to know people don't like their content (or products) if they don't tell them.

Getting no feedback can be good and bad. On one hand, it tells you that you don't suck enough for others to tell you that you do. On the other, it means people don't like your work enough to tell you they do. It's pretty bittersweet. And while many don't like it when others tell them what to do, the opposite goes for communities on the internet. Those involved in online communities make a lot of their projects for their audiences, not themselves. How are they supposed to know what to give the audiences if they don't tell them? I guess that's one of the things I love about New Media and Web 2.0. (Is that redundant? New Media AND Web 2.0? Nowadays, they seem to be one in the same.) They put a lot of emphasis on feedback, communication, and community building. This really does help websites and communities flourish and become successful.

So next time you visit a site you like or watch a video that makes you laugh, don't be afraid to tell the people that made it how much you enjoy their work. It encourages them to publish more and better content.