Your words count ... especially when you comment (LinkedIn Nurturing Basicz)

Your words count …. especially when you comment. Other audience members read your words and are probably judging content / posts / articles based on your comments … so it pays to be thoughtful with your comments ...

This story illustrates the impact of the four different kinds of comments (feedback) that you may make on your connections post / content:

The story background:

Your friend James (who you have known for a long time) final opens up his Steak House in SOHO. You are very excited as you have had the pleasure of enjoying James’s cuisine many times at his house parties and sometimes you have even thought his steak was pretty good.

James invites you to the opening night: a by invitation only event ... so it’s a pretty special occasion. As you leave at the end of the evening he thanks you for being part of the opening celebration with him and his team and he asks you to share your feedback on social media page … how do you comment ? (i.e. what is your feedback)

(1)   Limited: The limited value feedback

Your feedback: “you LIKEd his Steak”

What the audience may think: “So what !”

What James’s probably thinks: “Thanks … sort of … not sure why you bothered though… did you even really enjoy the steak ?”

Damning with faint praise

Side note 1: Its like saying someone is "nice" - what does that actually mean ?

(2)   Neutral: The non committal feedback

Your feedback: “We enjoyed our evening at James’s new SOHO Steak House”

What the audience may think: “might be interesting”

What James’s probably thinks: “thanks … kind of … although I expected more from a friend”

(3)   Personal: the feedback that is too personal

Your feedback: “We attended the opening night of James’s new SOHO Steak House and while I enjoyed the signature dish I felt it still lacked the spicing that I had told him about before”

What the audience may think: “Not sure I should go to that restaurant …”

What James probably thinks: “Maybe you could have mentioned that to me one on one”

(4)   Supportive: The feedback that counts

Your feedback: “We enjoyed another fantastic evening at James's new SOHO Steak House. The signature steak made the evening extra special for us and we can't wait to take our friends there"

What the audience may think: “Maybe we should go there too and try that out”

What James probably thinks: “Thank you. I should invite you back to eat again ”

In concept this Supportive feedback contains strong elements of edification (Edification in one of its definition relates to lifting someone up with your words / praise in other words making them look good)

Social media pays more attention to what you COMMENT on rather than what you merely LIKE

Take action; When you are asked to comment or you feel you want to support a connection with their content consider your words: (1) be genuine (make sure you have actually enjoyed the "steak") (2) take the time to make the comments (comment more than a just few generic words) (3) try and describe why the content is good so that others can be tempted to enjoy it as well

Side Note 2: If you want to say thank you for sharing, save yourself the time and words: just LIKE the post ...and then COMMENT

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