Harvard’s Neiman Journalism Lab posted an insightful article today about The Washington Post’s groundbreaking use of real-time comments to increase user engagement. In fact, reader comments at the Washington Post website have shot up 142 percent since the paper switched to the Echo platform in March 2011, according to Jon DeNunzio, the Post’s interactivity editor.
What is the secret to their success? Empowering editors to engage directly with readers via Echo’s Real-time Comments. Not only have the editors taken to the process as a way to improve their journalism, but readers are able to heatedly debate each other within the context of the article itself. It effectively creates live, real-time chat rooms at the bottom of each article, providing direct access to the news source and reader opinions on both sides of the issue.
Check out the full article, posted today:
The Washington Post tries a new weapon to fight the trolls: humans
The newspaper is encouraging reporters to jump into the comment threads of their own stories, not hide from them.
