I’ve written and rewritten this post several times in the last few months, and it’s never come out right. I decided that today is the day to pull the trigger, whether it’s finished or not. It’s a good idea, although maybe not fully formed. Forgive me, please, if I sound rambling. And also, the topic of giving lots of positive feedback online sounds very self-serving as I write this…and for that, I can only say oops. I tried to figure out a way to make it not, but I gave up because if you give positive feedback when you like something, you will benefit yourself and others. And if you happen to use it towards my business (which would be nice, no doubt) then of course, I’ll benefit too.*
In many ways, the Internet is a funny place. We all spend a lot of time there…and we have social media to connect with one another…but the actual interaction is minimal in a lot of unnatural ways. While we are interacting at a higher rate, the feeling of human interaction has gone down overall, wouldn’t you say?
When I buy something at a brick and mortar store, I say hello, how are you, I ask my questions and talk to the shop staff about the weather. I like all of those things, because they feel good.
On the internet, that’s not always true. You can perform an entire transaction from an online store without any real personal communication. It’s not uncommon to purchase a product, receive an auto response that an order has been received, get a shipping notification, then a package arrives with a packing slip…all without an actual person-to-person discussion taking place. Or worse, the only human communication happens when something goes wrong. (“Hey, where’s my order?” or, “This is broken.”)
One of the things I truly love about social media in general, and also about handmade/microbusiness culture is the fact that person-to-person feedback and interaction (of any sort–positive or negative) are encouraged, and really seem to be making a comeback. I think a lot of other people feel that way too.
It feels easy in this digital age to gravitate towards anonymity on the internet; call it the path of least resistance. I watch the videos, read the posts, buy the products I like and go on with my day. However, particularly after having been on the business end of this, and seen how valuable it is to GET feedback, I have started to embrace the ability to start giving more feedback, more often. I have started to become a more vocal consumer. The results of this short-term experiment have been delightful, in short: I feel more engaged with my choices and connected to the creators of what I’m consuming, in a wonderful way.
When a video is great, I go out of my way to send an email or comment saying thanks for the insight. When I love a product, I leave a review to tell the maker and other customers what I think. If there’s something I’d like to see different or hear more about, I can share that in a positive way that helps the business owner improve their product. Even if they don’t respond, I feel the positive effects of leaving my thanks out in the world.
Good feedback makes my day (and so does kindly communicated constructive feedback**). And I like the warm fuzzies from making somebody else’s day. When something another person is putting out there makes me feel great…makes me cry happy tears, fixes a problem I’m having, or makes me look at something in a new way, it feels great to tell them so.
This has also trickled over to my offline life too. For example, I’ve made a personal goal to send more thank-you notes (extra credit for snail-mail!) when I’m feeling really thankful for something. More happy words in the world is never a bad thing.
I’d love to hear your thoughts–how do you give feedback, online or off? On a scale of 1 to 10, how coherent was this blog post? Discuss below.
* See that? That’s some of the rambling I’m talking about.
** For more on the topic of kindly communicated feedback, read this post by Alexandra Franzen. I loved this post, and it was the catalyst that made me finally publish this today. Maybe after you read hers, mine will make more sense? Whatever, it’s Friday. Happy weekend!
