Hey, Blog Coach: What's a Trackback?
"What's a Trackback?"
This is a question often asked. I'll explain the techno-stuff towards the end, but let's get to real question: When Should I Use a Trackback?
A trackback is a way to elaborate or expand upon a blog post from someone else's blog. A perfect example of a trackback can be found on my previous post here: Synchronize Your Communications.
Alan Hoffler of MillsWyck Communications offered a trackback to the post, pointing back to his own article, How Accessible Are You? Here's why this is a great example:
- Rather than just repeating what I said, Alan goes into depth about expectations in communication - elaborating on what I wrote
- Both posts are introduced to our respective audiences, and each audience benefits
- Each has it's own message, though they are connected because of the subject matter
When is a trackback not such a good idea? When you're simply repeating what the original author said in their post - it's probably not wise to trackback. I call this a "loopback" since all you're doing is sending the original audience back to where they started - with little, if any, new thought.
Of course, some blogs allow only trackbacks, but no comments. Same principle applies. If you're adding to the idea, trackback. If not, just a simple link out from your blog will do nicely:-)
Now, to the techno-stuff (I'll cut to the quick).
A trackback (definition) is essentially a "ping" that gets delivered to the original article. When a trackback is used, most blogware is set-up to communicate this "ping" and note it just above the comments - if the author accepts trackbacks.
Here's how to send a trackback in TypePad. Blogger has a similar feature called Backlinks. If you're looking for the trackback in WordPress blogs, you'll most likely find it on the individual article page (click the headline).
In June, I wrote that Long Comments Should be Posts. I'll stand by that thought, and suggest that it's in those cases - and Alan's example above - that a trackback makes sense.
Note: I did NOT use the trackback feature from this post back to Alan's post. First, it goes off on a different subject. Second, it would end up being a loop.
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