The Gift of Giving

Just for today, how about trying this. Don’t just browse your favourite blogs, seek out some new blogs and

  • Write a comment
  • Send a supportive email
  • Bookmark at Del.icio.us
  • Stumble at Stumbleupon
  • Write a post linking to what you have found

Why?

Don’t you think it would be a nice thing to do? … and of course, you only get what you give.

View Comments to The Gift of Giving
  1. Ramkarthik
    July 26, 2007 | 9:10 am

    Good idea Chris. It would be refreshing too. I always do 1, 4 and 5. Today I’ll also do 2 and 3. Thanks.

  2. Jeremy Williams
    July 26, 2007 | 9:50 am

    I always like to comment and/or stumble things which I find particularly awesome when I’m scouring random blogs. The hope is that it’ll build up good blogging karma. I figure if it hasn’t worked yet, maybe I’m just not doing it often enough?

  3. Chris Garrett
    July 26, 2007 | 9:53 am

    @Ramkarthik – Refreshing is good :)

    @Jeremy – It could depend on the comments, plus do you tell people when you have stumbled?

  4. glblguy
    July 26, 2007 | 1:09 pm

    Great suggestion Chris. I try to find a new blog everyday and if I find something good, at least one of your suggestions.

    If you’re having trouble finding one…http://www.gatherlittlebylittle.com (completely shameless self promotion) :-)

  5. Khalid Hajsaleh
    July 26, 2007 | 2:04 pm

    Hey Chris,

    It is a great idea. I was thinking about something else. How about if post a list of the blogs you read regularly? We might just discover some new blogs there.

    Khalid

  6. Chris, I would happily Stumble more sites that I came across, if I didn’t have to download their stooopid toolbar ( :) ) into my browser before joining them.

    However, the gift of giving is one that will return to you, because of the law of reciprocity, so I absolutely agree, and try to do a Nice Thing (TM) every day.

    (It makes up for the 5 Bad Things that I do :) )

    Best,

    Paul Hancox

  7. Rajesh Shakya
    July 26, 2007 | 3:25 pm

    Great Idea.
    I just stumbled on your site:)

    Rajesh Shakya
    helping technopreneurs to excel and lead their life!

  8. Brad Grier
    July 26, 2007 | 4:04 pm

    Great idea Chris. Esp. the last item.
    I’m starting a new thing on my blog where I open a blank blog post and populate it with my day’s ‘finds’…and publish this Linklist at the end of the day. We’ll see how it goes, but that seems to be a system that would work for me.

  9. George
    July 26, 2007 | 4:22 pm

    Chris,

    That is a great idea and it’s something I do at least once month. I also sometimes subscribe to the feed, join the blogs mybloglog community, Digg a post, etc. depending on what I find.

    I think I will go check out some of your reader’s blogs who commented here and take you up on your advice with a few of them…

  10. Jason
    July 26, 2007 | 7:49 pm

    Good call. I haven’t sent many supportive e-mails. It’s on.

  11. Shane
    July 27, 2007 | 12:04 am

    Hearing you loud and clear Chris!

    I’ve been lacking in linking and commenting lately because of time constraints. But it’s one of things I enjoy most about the medium.

  12. Skellie
    July 27, 2007 | 1:53 am

    Your post inspired me to try and do something for sites that aren’t only the A-list but that I really appreciate. I Stumbled them, submitted my favorite post to Digg, left a comment, and clicked on a few ads. Just a quick way to say thanks!

  13. Lucio Dias Ribeiro
    July 27, 2007 | 6:51 am

    Hi Chris,
    I try to do it every Friday, I’ll go for new websites, new blogs, new opinions and publish as Friday’s fun…

    Everybody is welcome to visit my blog and leave comments

    marketingeasy (dot) blogspot (dot) com

    You all guys on my Friday’s Fun post(to be published later) also Favorites – Technorati.

    Paul, you’re right, reciprocity is important,
    good luck everyone,

    Cheers
    Lucio Dias Ribeiro

  14. fendi
    July 27, 2007 | 7:18 am

    Great Idea Chris…

    I just use google reader for all :)

  15. sara
    July 27, 2007 | 7:23 am

    Good call. Like the first commenter… 1, 4, and 5 are regulars for me. I quite like the SU service so I try to contribute to it too.

    I very rarely use delicious and I don’t know that I’ve ever sent an email. Maybe today!

  16. Jeremy Williams
    July 27, 2007 | 9:07 am

    Well, the comments generally get a return comment, but thats it. And.. no. My stumbles tend to be anonymous thumbs up at the coolness of a page.
    I guess in the future I could note in the comment that I stumbled..

  17. Chris Garrett
    July 27, 2007 | 9:48 am

    Thanks for the comments everyone. Hope you all got a nice warm glow from giving other people a lift, I know I did :)

  18. sara
    July 27, 2007 | 2:45 pm

    Just an update… 2 emails sent today :)

  19. John Hunter
    July 27, 2007 | 11:57 pm

    Giving is good. Even lending can be good. Kiva lets you “loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world.” I fell better clicking the link sending them the money than any money I spend on me. You can loan as little as $25.

  20. Ryan
    July 30, 2007 | 7:33 pm

    Chris I really enjoy reading your blog and this is yet another excellent post. I am rather new to Stumbleupon but will definately start stumbling more sites. Lately I have began commenting on other sites to show my appreciation. In the past I was just checking out my favorite sites on a daily basis and that was it. Thank you for your great insight.

  21. Chris Garrett
    July 31, 2007 | 10:26 am

    @sara – Good stuff :)

    @John – That’s a great concept, there should be more micro investment and donation charities

    @Ryan – Stumbleupon is great because in most cases it only takes a click to give a blog a boost :)

  22. Brad Grier
    July 31, 2007 | 3:39 pm

    @Ryan & @ChrisG: Yeah, someone Stumbled my site, and my traffic doubled…from StumbleUpon alone. Big kudos to ChrisG for the post, and to the kind soul who posted my site to StumbleUpon.

  23. George
    July 31, 2007 | 5:24 pm

    @Brad,

    I stumbled your article:
    http://blog.bradgrier.net/2007/07/24/listen-to-me-how-to-convert-your-blog-post-into-a-podcast/

    Which was really good. I actually stumbled an article from just about every blog that was listed before my original comment and linked to a lot of them as well. My guess is that other people reading the comments on this blog stumbled your article as well.

    If you don’t use stumbleupon, it’s a good idea to sign up. Once you install it on your toolbar it’s very easy to stumble good blog posts/articles/websites.

  24. Brad Grier
    July 31, 2007 | 9:12 pm

    @George,

    Heh, thanks for ‘fessing up ;-) I’d not used StumbleUpon very much prior to reading this article, but now have it installed on my work and home computers, and am beginning to work it into my daily comment/rss scan.

    …and it’s a great way to give back too!

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