Yes, it's very important that you interact with your readers, but I also am of the opinion that it should be because you sincerely have something to add to the conversation. Replying to comments just for the sake of doing so, or just to say a simple “thanks” and that's it… it screams of inauthenticity to me. This is why I *don't* reply to every comment here. I don't want them to be devalued.

David Risley does make a good point also, that spending TOO much time replying to comments can take away from your time creating tangible content for your readers/customers. With that being said, I do also believe David was a bit off in saying “it doesn't make good business sense”. My argument would be that if you were able to reply to every comment, e-mail, tweet, etc. would you do so? Of course you would. So to say anything otherwise is a fallacy.

Now, it may be wholly impossible to actually do this in reality – that's why priorities come into account. And everyone has a different opinion, different style, different business model, etc – so I don't believe there's *one* right answer. Some prioritize interaction over all else to achieve success, some prioritize content creation over all else for the same purpose. Both ideologies would still be correct.

Thanks for joining in with the discussion, Keith. You definitely added some needed value here. (as opposed to using the comments to call people an idiot, dumbass or gay)

I only recently started reading your blog (found it from a comment you left somewhere), and I appreciate your points as well. But, ultimately, when this all started on Sire's site when he wrote about commenting on pro-blog's sites and never getting any responses from these “A-list” bloggers, I completely understand his point. I went over to David's video reply and left a good comment, of course there was no reply (he had replied to several other comments) and I didn't expect he would reply as he stated “it doesn't make good business sense” to do so.

I disagree with the concept of not spending time in your comments, sometimes more comes from the comments than came out of the original post.

BTW, it was red boxers with polka dots!

It's because a lot of the things he talks about I find to be true, that's the only reason why I'm disappointed it's in the midst of immature humor.

It's ok to like the “bully” when he's playing pranks on the principal. But when he's stuffing smaller kids into lockers and flushing their heads in toilets, the “bully” won't be liked by anyone.

Enjoyed this and will now check out the offending video. Cheers!

I think the main thing for me is that I wish I could be as expressive as Allyn is in his videos. Better to be hated for your strong personality than to be ignored for your lack of a personality.

Anyway, as I said I really enjoyed this analysis and I'm off to browse some more of this blog.

Cheers,
Shane

Will keep it in mind, most of my targets are the people on the train I see during my work commute.