Why Commenting is Gay

If you’re subscribed to other social media growth newsletters, you’ve undoubtedly been told to comment under similar creators’ posts to drive traffic to your account.

Many people take this advice to heart. Take for example the comments under a recent LinkedIn posts of mine:

While the top comments share some valuable information, the vast majority are people attempting to self-promote by engaging in the most trivial conversation imaginable.

I’m here to share with you why this isn’t worth your time and more effective alternatives.

Most comments like this are simply agreeing with the premise of the original post — often in a rapport-seeking manner with no additional insight. I doubt everyone making these comments both agrees with the post and takes action on this information. By doing this, the commenters are destroying their own narrative.

What do I mean by this?

Imagine every comment you make on social media is seen by everyone you know. On LinkedIn, this is actually the case. The algorithm is designed to show you the comments made by people in your network.

1. If you’re seen agreeing with everything, it’s hard for anyone to determine your beliefs.

2. If your comments are without substance, this will be associated with you. You’ll be known as someone who comments “Excellent Insights” under 100 peoples’ posts.

The key here is to ensure your words have substance. If you’re spewing noise, it will be difficult for your audience to tell where the signal is.

Liking posts is a bit different since it’s not necessarily seen as an endorsement of a piece of content but rather acknowledging the value of the author’s perspective.

If you are going to comment, make sure its intentional and has substance. Otherwise, you’ll get lost in the noise.

Be intentional, build a brand, and you’ll be unstoppable.

Cheers,
Eric Otten