Visibility Of Google+ Comments Is Similar To Participation In Real Life Conversations

One of the more intriguing issues about Google+ Comments, as seen in in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, comes from people who can't see all of the comments, posted against their blog.

If the link below the post says "4 Comments", why can't I see all 4 comments?

These people don't understand that the caption ("4 Comments", in this example) refers to the total number of comments which refer to the blog.

1. Comments published to "Public".
2. Comments not published to "Public", by people in their Circles.
3. Comments not published to "Public", by people not in their Circles.

The blog owner, and the various readers of the blog, can each see the caption "4 Comments".

Individual viewing of Google+ Comments is limited.

The individual ability, to see the comments themselves, is limited to comments which are part of Groups #1 and #2. Comments in Group #3 (or the names of the commenters) are not visible, for each person viewing the blog.

For any blog with significant reader population, there will always be readers who are unknown to the owner - and whose comments will be invisible to the owner (and to various readers).

Google+ Comments mimic real life conversation visibility.

Google+ Comments are based on Google+ Stream posts - and Google+ Stream posts are based on real life.

We, individually, hear about very few of the total world conversations.

There are millions of people in the world, and various conversations by those people. Some conversations we can hear (read about, see) - and others we cannot.

1. We can hear (read about, see) conversations made in public (in “newspapers, on “televsion”, and in other media).
2. We can hear (read about, see) conversations made in private, which are directed to us.
3. We cannot hear (read about, see) conversations made in private, which are not directed to us.

We can't (shouldn't) hear conversations made by other people, which are not directed to us - even if the conversations are about us. Nor can we read comments, or see +1s or forwardings, by other people who we don't know (or are not in our Circles) - even if the comments reference our blogs.

Concentrate on conversations with your Followers (Circle members).

Concentrate on the relationships of which you are a part - people who listen to you - and speak to those who concern you. Don't obsess over relationships which don't concern you.