Recently I have prevented comments from being left on my blog due to having received some difficult ones within the past two months. I am still accepting likes on my blog posts and the one about my first Mindful Chef box is my most liked post to date. It makes me happy that people out there still appreciate my posts and one simple like can mean a lot.

Onto YouTube now. I have been lucky enough to receive more likes than dislikes on my YouTube videos overall. My lyric video for ‘Wonderful Life’ by Hurts might be one of my most basic videos but it’s in fact my most liked video with a total of 13 likes and my most viewed video with over 3000 views, which might not seem like a lot (bear in mind I am only a small YouTuber with over 100 subscribers and I haven’t received as many video views as the big-name YouTubers out there); however I am proud of this little achievement. It also cheers me up when I receive likes on comments I leave on other people’s videos, even more so when they reply to my comments be it parents of three children, a young person who loves technology or a freelance social media manager, blogger and YouTuber all rolled into one who lives by the sea. Sometimes there are moments of YouTubers not replying to my comments either because I think I overwhelmed them with my comments, they are busy creating content or doing their everyday jobs, spending some precious time with their loved ones such as their families or partners or there might be a possible glitch that prevents YouTubers from replying to certain comments so much so they can only give the comment a thumbs up. In spite of these thoughts it is still pleasing to receive likes on my comments whether they are from YouTubers or other viewers although with YouTube I do not get notifications saying a specific person liked my comments but I do get notifications that tell me a specific person has replied to my comments or the YouTuber who made the video has loved my comments (loved comments are indicated by the YouTuber’s profile picture with a small heart). 

Unlike YouTube I receive notifications on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that say when a specific person or page has liked my Facebook status updates (or reacted to them by using a reaction button), Tweets, photographs on all platforms or comments on all platforms. Again this puts a smile on my face for the most part and I like the idea of the different reaction buttons on Facebook although the Wow button initially confused me because I didn’t know whether people used it to express amazement or shock (maybe they used it to express both because at first glance it looked like a shocked face to me).

In conclusion I find that receiving likes on my blog, YouTube and social media (as well as reactions on Facebook) can be just as effective as receiving comments because to me a straightforward action can speak just as many words as the average comment. For the time being I am more content to receive comments on my YouTube videos, Facebook status updates, Tweets and Instagram pictures because they are overall more positive than the comments I received on my blog within the past two months.