The Des Moines Register on Wednesday became the second Gannett paper to switch to a Facebook-driven commenting system, in a bid to clean up the negative posts that often come with anonymity. (The other paper is The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla.) Some of the most angry comments typically come on stories about politics.
The new policy is expected to dramatically reduce the volume of comments until and unless a large number of readers adopt Facebook accounts. Fewer comments means fewer pageviews, and that's a potential hit to advertising revenue. You know GCI is serious about an initiative when it risks profits.
Here's a good example of the policy's early impact, from a Register story that should draw a ton of posts because of its potentially divisive subject matter.
Yesterday's big news in Des Moines -- and across the nation -- were the Republican presidential candidates' debates, held in nearby Ames. Chief political writer Jennifer Jacobs' account was published at about 11:30 last night. By 8 o'clock local time this morning, her article had drawn comments from a grand total of two people.
Ooooph.
[Image: today's paper, Newseum]
Here's a good example of the policy's early impact, from a Register story that should draw a ton of posts because of its potentially divisive subject matter.
Yesterday's big news in Des Moines -- and across the nation -- were the Republican presidential candidates' debates, held in nearby Ames. Chief political writer Jennifer Jacobs' account was published at about 11:30 last night. By 8 o'clock local time this morning, her article had drawn comments from a grand total of two people.
Ooooph.
[Image: today's paper, Newseum]
Online anonymity is evil....but the Register sees nothing wrong with their anonymous "Your 2 Cent's Worth" in the paper....oh, but that's online also!
ReplyDeleteBut that's okay....the editors get to screen those properly because they know what's best for us.
Thanks Register for saving us from ourselves.
Hi Jim, by what time this morning were there only two comments?
ReplyDeleteWhoops; I've fixed that. I found comments from two posters when I checked at 8 a.m. Des Moines time.
ReplyDeleteSending readers to Facebook, an entity in which Gannett has no financial stake in, is a ridiculous move. More so given how Gannett touts itself as a media-rich company, one that should be able to solve this with its own tools.
ReplyDelete12:03 - That is so funny. Unless someone comes up with it first, Gannett can't function. The NYT will figure out how to solve the problem and Gannett will get on board two years later. Duh!
ReplyDeleteThere's the other issue--another failed experiment involving the Pluck software--did Gannett buy that, partner with Pluck or what? How much did that situation cost us?
ReplyDeleteIs the software supposed to pluck the chicken?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be so quick to proclaim page views as THE metric of importance to advertisers.
ReplyDeletecan someone post proxy report again
ReplyDeleteHave any of you ever had to police online forums for bad language, spam, political feuds race-baiting, etc? Or dealt with the onslaught of complaints from thin-skinned participants? The ROI for self-maintaining forums just isn't there when one considers it's still only 1- or 2-percent of total web traffic at a news website. Let Facebook do it. Fewer folks might participate, but they're (generally) doing so with real names in a social environment that can drive more traffic to a site.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteRidiculous and unwanted. I don't read the comments for the mainstream and subdued, but for the extremes. We need totally open and anonymous fora for public comment. Liberals have driven this.
ReplyDelete