It may sound like a simple concept. Every newspaper or news outlet that is trying to move online or succeed online needs to build a proper community of users who care about not just the content but the conversation inspired by articles and news.
Today, our Creative Communications classes were shown what it was like to write for CBCNews.ca/Manitoba by Donna Lee, who works on the ever evolving online editions of the news. Her job seems awesome, with her drawing from every source in CBC News to quickly break stories and then flesh them out over the day. There were some questions about how comments were moderated on the CBC News sites, and she mentioned that comments were curated by independent, contracted companies/people.
This got me thinking about how comments are dealt with and moderated on other websites around the internet. It is my personal opinion that while it is great to have many people reading articles and sharing them on Facebook and Twitter, the real gold mine of reader feedback and insight is definitely the comment section of a website. There are often many amazing, thought provoking, and discussion inciting things said in a well moderated comment section. The comments don’t have to be the domain of trolls.
Many websites have robust and extremely well thought out commenting systems that not only encourage discussion, but reward it. I believe this is one of the fundamental things that print media organizations need to grasp as they move online. If you make people invest themselves in your website and take ownership over some of the discussion, you will build a thriving community that is capable of moderating itself. That is what a every successful website is. It is a community.
It doesn’t matter if you are a small time blog with a hundred readers. If those readers keep coming back, every time there is a post, and stay and talk about it, in a safe place, they will start to do some of the work for you. People will step forward offering to help moderate the comments of a site that they care about. Tired of trolls in the Winnipeg Free Press comments? BUILD A BETTER COMMENTS SECTION. I know they are trying to make it better, but the interactions just are not there. Writers need to interact and be comfortable with that…if only they had kept the young talent that would have loved to do that…
There are several examples of great commenting systems that put the power in the hands of users without them being able to abuse it while still allowing anonymous commenting. The most shining of these examples is the Ars Technica comments section (Ars Technica is a technology and science news site).
Users are awarded ranks based on contribution levels and membership length, allowing people to know in seconds that a respectable, insightful person is making an informed comment. There is also a voting system attached to this, allowing readers to choose their favourite or the most controversial comments to rise to the top of the post pile and stopping individual user abuse. Basically, if you’re an asshole, you get buried.
Then, the ultimate form of user engagement emerges, and that is the editors choice comment. This comment is often a reader favourite that editors choose because it significantly contributes to the article in terms of social relevance, professional insight or topical insight.
THIS IS WHAT KEEPS READERS COMING BACK.
Sure, the writing is already great, the site is beautiful and the news is relevant and insightful, but what keeps your most dedicated and passionate readers coming back and CARING about the site is this interaction.
Users and regular readers actively read the comments and reply, having great discussion, because they can see themselves being rewarded for helpful conversation and know that not only are the editors reading the posts from the writers, but from the readers as well. Treat your garden of readers and commenters well, and you will be rewarded.
If your newspaper is looking for a way for the writers to engage with readers in a thoughtful, long form and constructive way, without having to send them off of your site to Twitter, implement an amazing commenting system. Or, if you’re lazy and don’t care about anonymity, just switch over to Facebook comments.
Imagine the engagement numbers that newspapers would have with a comment section like that.
UPDATE: I know that there are featured comments and commenters on the Winnipeg Free Press site. But these are not chosen by writers are editors and are based solely on reputation. The voting system is broken as well.
