5 Types of Voting and Commenting Behaviors
June 4, 2008 8:18 am Social MediaOn social news and bookmarking sites, users have a variety of motivations for voting the way they do. Their voting and commenting behavior often reflects their personality and their relationship with the site and other users. As time has gone on, I’ve observed that people tend to fall, roughly, in specific behavioral “buckets” as they relate with their voting behavior. Below are five of the most popular habits and attitudes that I have found users to have during my experiences in social media.
These users will vote up the stories they enjoy and vote down the ones they don’t. It is nothing personal; it has to do with their perception of the story. They don’t feel the need to validate their voting choices. It also doesn’t involve the relationship you share online. It only has to do with the content you submitted. These people are straight shooters and simply don’t have time for games and explanations.
These users will upmod a story they don’t necessary agree with philosophically. Although they deem the post as weak on many fronts, they will vote it up regardless. Essentially, these voters are the type who will never say “no” to you. They will support you even when you mess up big time. These users will share their opinion as to why they don’t agree. Regardless of their opinion of the story, they think your submission story should be seen by the community.
These users will downmod a submission because they don’t philosophically agree with it. As aforementioned, the social media space includes people from different background and belief systems. When they are gathered in one space, they will often disagree on the premise of a story. These users in particular will express their thoughts through their voting behavior. These users will share their opinion by voting down a story they don’t agree with. If a submitter asks into why that particular user downmodded a story, they will explain it to them. However, they don’t want their decisions questioned or get reprimanded for downmodding. These voters don’t hold anything against the user for submitting that post.
These users will not vote on a story they don’t like or agree with. They don’t want to have an impact on the total number of votes you get in the end. At the same time, they don’t believe your story is worthy of being popular. These users will engage you in a discussion about the article you submitted by commenting. Although they rarely attack you personally, they do address the issues they have with the article.
There are users who will downmod a submission because it is inaccurate or considered as spam. If the story is not in conformity with facts, these users will often share an article showing the correct facts. These users aren’t blind voters, and will give their opinion based on their interpretation of the story. It is very apparent that they are invested in the growth of the site, and will not accept any submission that compromises the integrity of the community. Based on that, they will often comment stating their opinion regarding why the story is bias or untrue.
Thanks to Tanner Hobin for the images.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:13 am
This is a great article with some great perceptions into the different social media users. I have always been amused by the individuals who have 100 diggs, 10000 comments, 0 FP, and 20,000 profile views. I guess my philosophy is to help other social media submitters succeed. I do not necessary have to agree with them to support their well developed ideas or article. I have yet to bury anything! There are plenty of others who will take care of that.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I for one would consider myself in the straight up category. Either I like the article or I hate it, I vote it up or down and go on with my life.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Look, I’m not gonna sugar coat my response to this article. At first I was prepared to give it a thumbs up (SU) because I support pretty much everything Reem Abeidoh says, thinks, or feels. But then I was like, ‘whoa, have I just become a total Reem Abeidoh fan slut? Is this what I want out of my life/social media experience.’ But then I ate a couple ice cream sandwiches, watched some Blossom re-runs, and decided ‘yes, I do want to be a part of the “Reem Team.” So I thumbed up this article and left a glowing review on SU. Gotta go, Blossom’s back on!
June 4th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I am sort of in between straight up and “i love you but hate the way you act.” i agree with tim - i want to see other people succeed, and i remember what it was like as a newbie to writing content and submitting, and bugging people for knowledge on how to succeed. the only stuff i don’t vote for is stuff i wouldn’t want showing up on friendfeed or if it is an obviously terrible article or ripped off content with no attribution. in that case, you can still help the person succeed by telling them to raise their standards.
i remember asking supernova17 (karim) to look at my site when i first started on digg and tell me if anything looked good for him to submit, and he said “i went through 7 pages and nothing looks like it will work” and his honesty made me want to digg (punmaster) deeper into the community and figure out what people really did like.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
wow i just saw buzzdiggity’s comment that came in while i was writing. i can’t believe i missed Blossom and i forgot to put it on the DVR.
June 4th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
There is a “Reem Team?” Where do I sign up?
June 4th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
To join The Reem Team, send a $50 check to Greg Davies at Social Blend. We will send you a membership kit, which includes a neat Reem decoder ring.
I’m not going to bother telling you what kind of commenter I am. Figure it out and you tell me
June 4th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Just started a Ream Team clique on Plurk for anyone that is interested. I don’t know where I sit on this scale. I really do not disagree with many posts that I am sent by my friends but in a few cases I have had to tell people no. What this all comes down to is peoples own interpretations of what the community should be. I want all communities to be a place where my friends can share their thoughts openly
June 4th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
A few times I have said no because it’s something I can’t promote in good conscience, but usually people share great stuff, so it’s not a big deal. Reem team: I am so there.
June 4th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I’m definitely on the “Reem Team”!!! Great article, as always.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I think I fit the ‘Can We Talk’ type. I almost never down vote a story, but I do comment on stuff if I disagree sometimes.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
As usual, I don’t fit in any of them, but rather a little of several.
I only vote up things I like, like a straight shooter, but unlike them will not down vote something I am not interested in. If I don’t like something, I just don’t vote period.
I only downvote when something is spam or shit or puts forth a view of something that I find insulting. Which puts me in the WTH category.
So, I’m a mutt as usual.
Great article, Reemie!
June 6th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Anyone who did miss Blossom, I have every episode recorded on DVD, as well as the greatest hits. Even better yet, I have Blossom’s favorite school cafeteria moments as well. Perhaps, we can include this in the Reem Team Membership kit from Greg Davies. The price will have to been increased of course to 79.95.
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