Congrats to the winner of a $10 Amazon Giftcard, Kai at Fiction State of Mind!
It’s hour 20!  We made it! Well, actually, I’m scheduling this in advance, so you and the minions definitely made it. I might be asleep by now! Either way, welcome to the hour 20 Let’s Get Social challenge 🙂 Here’s what we’re going to be doing…
A while ago I wrote a discussion post about how I comment in order to get the best interactions with other bloggers. The gist of it is this:
- whenever you read a post, be thinking about a meaningful comment you can leave
- if someone comments on your blog, comment on theirs
- comment on 3-5 blogs ahead of you in every link up you add to
- talk to people on twitter
I think all of these things have one thing in common that makes them work so well. They all connect you with people who share your interests enough for you to follow them; for them to follow you; or for you to be participating in the same events. I had maybe one or two people I felt like I was getting to know through my blog before I started doing these things. Since doing these things, I’ve gotten to know a lot of new people and really started to feel like part of a community.
So, my challenge for you is the following: pick one or more of the things above to try and sometime in the next three hours, come back and leave me a comment letting me know what you did. That’s it! I’ll then choose a winner at random from people who have commented and they will get a $10 Amazon gift card when I announce the winner at the beginning of hour 23. Happy reading!
Lydia Rae Presley
I loved this challenge. It gave me the kick in the pants I needed to visit some of the blogs of folks who visited me today. Thank you for the reminder!
DoingDewey
Wonderful! It’s the first time I’ve run a mini-challenge, so I’m glad to hear it was helpful 🙂
Alyssa Llanes Ψ (@operativealyssa)
I love socializing in Twitter so opted that option instead of the others. I talk to other bookworms who also participated in the readathon on Twitter. And they’re all great to talk to! 😉
DoingDewey
That sounds like a lot of fun! I’ve been on twitter a little, but I’ve mostly been reading and commenting tonight 🙂
Angie F.
I’ve gone and commented on blogs that have left me comments today! 😀
DoingDewey
Nice! I love when I end up commenting back and forth with other bloggers. It’s a great way to get to know each other 🙂
Alysia @My Little Pocketbooks
I jumped on TweetChat and chatted it up a bit with @readathon.
Alysia @My Little Pocketbooks
oops! Here is my link. http://littlepocketbooks.blogspot.com/2013/10/oct-13-read-thon-updates-hour-17-20.html
sharlenehsmith
Very cool mini challenge. I have been doing this for a good chunk of the past 20 hours (except for the 4 I slept) as a cheerleader. I went through the #TeamTiger list leaving comments on blogs, once before the official start time & more recently just finished again. It takes awhile. In the tween times, I read and also made lots of comments on twitter, even to those who aren’t #TeamTiger cause that’s what a cheerleader does! I’ve had some good chats with hosts like Indi & our captain Beth, plus lots of here & there tweets too 🙂
Faith Hope & Cherrytea
I enjoy Katie’s encouragement to interaction as well & always pleasantly surprised to find new tweeters faving my tweets when one’s I’ve thought would answer haven’t – kind of a paradox
DoingDewey
Getting comments makes the read-a-thon much more social, so I think it’s awesome that you’re commenting extra! Thanks for participating 🙂
Laura
I’ve both commented on a blog when someone has commented on mine first (this always makes me happy!) and commenting back to people on my blog. I usually do both (and I always troll around the links, leaving comments the afternoon after this is all over), but it was nice to more consciously do so.
Thanks for the great mini-challenge!
DoingDewey
I love when people comment on my blog too 🙂 Thanks for participating!
kai charles (@YogiKai)
I spent the last 20 mins chating on twitter to bloggers and responding to those that commented on my posts
DoingDewey
Yay! I love getting to chat with other bloggers during bookish events 🙂
Faith Hope & Cherrytea
As @_eHope, I Have favourited tweets, commented on blogs, retweeted and replied to tweets, commented replies to commenters on my blog, readathon cheerleaders, and generally been social 😉
Enjoying your encouragement in this mini challenge.. thanks!
DoingDewey
Great! I sometimes find it hard to balance reading, mini challenges, and actually talking to people, but I think it’s important to take advantage of the read-a-thon to interact with other bloggers 🙂
Courtney @ Stiletto Storytime
Great mini-challenge idea! I have to admit that I have been talking to people on Twitter since Hour 5 when I was hosting. I love Twitter during readathon….it’s so interactive, it’s fast and I get to catch up with bloggers I don’t see much of otherwise. My twitter handle is @stiletostrytime so make sure to be social and say hello! Have a great end of readathon!
Courtney
Stiletto Storytime
DoingDewey
I like twitter too! I used to just not get it, but it’s become my favorite social media site 🙂
Amanda Pennington (@MandaPantsReads)
I’ve been chatting with people an Twitter for a good while (I also feel asleep for a while in there) but not too may people are awake anymore.
DoingDewey
Awesome! I used to not use twitter, but it’s become one of my favorite ways to interact with people 🙂
Amanda Pennington (@MandaPantsReads)
Oh i forgot! My Twitter is @mandapantsreads
Mrs. Soule
I went with “if someone comments on your blog, comment on theirs” – something I’ve been trying to do today – and commented on two other blogs whose authors had left comments on mine. It’s always fun to see what others have done for challenges! 🙂
DoingDewey
Great! I used to not do this, but reciprocating comments has made an amazing difference to how well I feel like I know other bloggers 🙂
Vicky @ Books, Biscuits, and Tea
I love socializing as well! For the challenge, I visited people back and left them some comment love. 🙂
DoingDewey
It’s such a great part of the read-a-thon! I always like interacting with other bloggers, but the read-a-thon means more people on twitter and lots to talk about in comments 🙂
Reading Bliss
I’ve been having fun tweeting people 🙂
Maria @ abookgeek.blogspot.com
DoingDewey
Yay! Although I haven’t used twitter much during the read-a-thon, it’s generally one of my favorite ways to interact with other bloggers 🙂
Veronica Morfi
I commented in all the blogs that left me comments in my post and found some more posts to comment on first 🙂
DoingDewey
I think that’s wonderful! It’s always nice when someone stops by to comment 🙂
Nolatari
I agree, the social aspect of Readathon is what makes it so stellar! Twitter is definitely my fave. But I also took your advice and visited the bloggers who linked up ahead of me and found sites I’d never seen before. Thanks for the tip!
DoingDewey
I like twitter a lot too! It’s a great way to get to know people 🙂
Kristen M.
I have been having as much fun on Twitter today as in my own reading. It definitely gives me the feeling that it’s a true community event! Twitter will probably be what gets me through the last couple of hours too. 🙂
–@webereading
DoingDewey
I love that about twitter! I’ve both talking to people on twitter and exchanging comments have made me feel a lot more connected to the blogging community 🙂
Spamantha // Cy-V (@CyV) #TeamOwl
It’s all I’ve been doing! Haven’t even read!
Cheerleader or not, I don’t like leaving a short and generic comment on people’s blogs!
Quality, not quantity, and the sorts. Though I can handle both, I’m Spamantha and I am AweSam.
But I can still check the progress of the people who commented on my blogs! And have another go at my cheerleader list ^_^
I also have a tip for wordpress bloggers! Activate CommentLuv and Comment Reply Notification, these are plugins. It’ll show the commenters last (or otherwise chosen) and send them an e-mail when you or someone replies! It’s not standard in WP, there’s only subscribe to all comments, which can be a little spammy. Even for me 😉
I really like this challenge! More and more I’m realizing that the readathons are a social event for me, I’ll read the week after, not during =’)
DoingDewey
A lot of blogging events end up being all about the socializing for me too 🙂 Thanks for the tips and for taking the time to leave great comments!
livvvy75
Great idea! I checked out three blogs above me on the linky and left comments on their blogs. On non-readthon posts as well. I have also replied to some of the cheerleader comments on my blog. Thanks – it was fun!
DoingDewey
Great! I’m glad you had a good time 🙂
Nadia
Hello! 🙂
I already did some visits and comments, before your challenge… does it count?
If it doesn’t, well. I’ll be visiting new blogs when the read-a-thon ends, so good luck everybody ^_^
Nadia
http://eu-e-o-bam.blogspot.pt/
DoingDewey
Sure! Works for me 🙂
Becca Sanborn
I’ve been cheering all night, responding to comments on my blog, and trying to cheer/talk on twitter. Great challenge!
DoingDewey
Thanks! I’m glad you’ve gotten to interact with other bloggers so much 🙂
Pogue
I have been twittering most of the day, but I did go and visit some blogs and I got one new visitor to mine.
DoingDewey
Wonderful! Getting new visitors is always exciting 🙂
Elisabeth
Talked to some Twitter people. It was fun. 🙂
DoingDewey
Wonderful! Not sure how I missed replying earlier, but I’m glad you had a good time 🙂
Kanoko (@kanokochi)
Left a bit of lovin’ on my visitors’ sites, and a few others. Incidentally, most of them are cheerleaders. Definitely deserve some cheering themselves, those lovely ladies. Been on Twitter, too. But, man, once you’ve started socialising, it’s a challenge to get back to reading. 😀
Thanks for hosting the challenge.
DoingDewey
The cheerleaders have been doing a great job 🙂 It is hard to get back to reading though, especially once you get tired!
Alice
I really wish I had participated in this, having seen all the blogs on it, it looked like so much fun!
That gif is hilarious by the way, I can’t stop staring at it.
DoingDewey
Hopefully you’ll be able to next time 🙂 I love the minions!
Alice
I’ll make sure I keep the time free next time! 😀
amynabi
Interesting challenge. I have been reading through new blog posts and commenting on them when I stumbled on this post. So yes, I have done the first thing mentioned in your post 🙂
DoingDewey
It was a lot of fun! I think I enjoy following bloggers a lot more if I make sure to actually interact with them, so I think that’s a great thing to do 🙂
joyweesemoll
Ha! I’m over here, too late for the challenge, because you commented on my blog yesterday and I’m, now, visiting all the bloggers who did that. So, I would have qualified.
I did end up really enjoying The Perfume Collector. Thanks for visiting my blog yesterday!
Joy’s Book Blog
DoingDewey
Ah, I’m sorry you missed the challenge, but I’m glad you got a chance to socialize anyway 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
abookdragon
I was just stopping by to say thank you for hosting a mini-challenge but this is a great idea for always! Gina @ BookDragon’s Lair
DoingDewey
No problem! I had a lot of fun hosting 🙂