engaging news project - nyc media lab 2015 annual summit (workshop)
TRANSCRIPT
How To Make Online News More Commercially Viable &
Democratically BeneficialTalia Stroud
Director of the Engaging News Project
Associate Professor at the UT-Austin
@EngagingNews / @TaliaStroud
ENGAGING NEWS PROJECT
To provide research-based techniques for engaging online
audiences in commercially viable and democratically beneficial ways.
Polls & QuizzesComment Sections Engagement ButtonsSite Design
POLLS ON NEWS SITES
Interactive polls are common on
news sites
AN ALTERNATIVE: A QUIZ
AN ALTERNATIVE: A QUIZ
Quizzes are engaging
AN ALTERNATIVE: A QUIZ
Quizzes are informative
ENGAGINGNEWSPROJECT.ORG/CREATE-A-QUIZ
ENGAGINGNEWSPROJECT.ORG/CREATE-A-QUIZ
QUIZ TIPS: POSSIBLE CANDIDATES
QUIZ TIPS
QUIZ TIPS
QUIZ TIPS
A QUIZ TOOL
Polls & QuizzesComment SectionsEngagement ButtonsSite Design
COMMENT SECTIONS: THE GOOD
Examples culled from GateHouse Media organizations
COMMENT SECTIONS: THE BAD
COMMENT SECTIONS: THE UGLY
COMMENT SECTIONS: THE STAKES FOR NEWSROOMS
1. Comments can affect what people think about your journalism
2. Incivility in the comments can affect what people take away from your journalism
3. Comments can build community4. Comment sections can be a source of revenue
COMMENT SECTIONS:STATE OF THE SPACE
GETTING INVOLVED IN COMMENT SECTIONS
Journalistic Involvement: Two ViewsComments are the purview of
the site users and newsroom staff
should not respond …
Diakopoulos & Naaman, 2011, Towards quality discourse in online
news comments.
The tone changes simply because the user realizes
someone … is listening
Jon DeNunzio, Washington Post
REPORTER INVOLVEMENT IN COMMENTS
DesignPartner with local news station
Across 70 different political posts, we randomized whether:1)Reporter engaged 2)Station engaged3)No engagement
Engagement was respectful, highlighting strong comments
ResultsReporter engagement …• Reduced
incivility• Increased
provision of evidence
REPORTER INVOLVEMENT IN COMMENTS
Techniques to spark conversation and highlight productive comments: 1. Answer legitimate questions (e.g. “Good question Mandy…”)2. Ask questions (e.g. “What are your thoughts on that?”)3. Provide additional information (e.g. “Here’s a link to the bill text.”)4. Encourage and highlight good discussion (e.g. “Tom, you bring up
something interesting”)
TESTIMONIALS“I’ve had a really positive experience getting involved in the comments. It encourages me to look at the comments section more. The readers respond well when I go in and comment. They generally will thank me for my response.”
-Jessica Parks, county reporter
The Philadelphia Inquirer“(Engaging News Project) put out a study that showed that having writers moderate and comment on their own stories improved the tenor of comments overall. A handful of reporters for the Inquirer and Daily News have started to do this and anecdotally, we feel it’s been pretty successful.”
-Erica Palan, audience engagement manager
Experiment to evaluate commenting behavior:(1)Background Information(2)Facts(3)Both Background & Facts(4)Control
Results(5)More comments with background
information(6)Comments more relevant with
background information(7)Facts made people less calm,
satisfied(8)The more perceived civility and
balance, the more interest people had in returning to the site
Polls & QuizzesComment SectionsEngagement ButtonsSite Design
ENGAGEMENT BUTTONS
Polls & QuizzesComment SectionsEngagement ButtonsSite Design
DESIGNING THE COMMENT SECTION
One-column vs. three columns
Limited page views, limited learningPAGE DESIGN
SUMMARY
Use quizzes instead of pollsHave journalists get involved in the comment section
Add pro/con arguments before a comment section
Use “Respect” instead of “Like”Consider new comment section designsUse contemporary homepage layouts
Questions & Comments?
/engagingnewsprojectengagingnewsproject.
org
@engagingnews