Blogs create community, which helps newspapers
In February, I wrote about Robin Roger, a grad student at Chapel Hill who was using commenters on our blogs to research a thesis seeking "evidence that newspaper blogs build a sense of community, and whether that has an effect on reading behavior."
Her conclusion: Findings suggest that the effects of high levels of community are cumulative; therefore, creating a blogging community can draw new readers -- great news for newspaper marketers. Results from the study also suggest a virtuous cycle: frequent blog reading seems to lead to a sense of community, and vice versa.
These results confirm our belief that the blogs are one more way to build community -- we talk with readers, readers talk with us, readers talk with each other. Ideas and information are exchanged. Arguments break out; perhaps even understanding and acceptance occur. That's community. That's civic engagement. That helps build social capital.
The findings seem to support the thesis that those who have a high sense of community -- both on the blogs and in their physical community -- read the newspaper -- both online and off -- more than those who do not. Those who have a high sense of community on the blogs read the blogs more often, visit the website more often, and tend to subscribe to the print newspaper.
Seems intuitive. And, other than the subscription issue, I'd suggest a sense of community applies to other blogs. Roger couches her conclusions throughout the thesis; 76 people responded to the survey, which is a relatively small sample. And she suggests more research is needed.
Other excerpts:
Those blog readers who responded are mostly male, middle class, middle aged, and highly educated. Of those who participated, 63.5% are male, and 36.5% are female. The median age is 43 and the mean age is 44. The oldest person is 87 while the youngest is 22. Forty-seven percent of respondents are college graduates, and 34% have post-graduate or professional education beyond college....Most of the respondents consider themselves politically moderate while 30% consider themselves conservative and 25% consider themselves liberal.
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The creators of the Sense of Community Index, McMillan and Chavis, wrote that there are four elements of community: feelings of membership, feelings of influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and a shared emotional connection. A combination of these elements leads to a strong sense of community, but it does not guarantee it. On The Chalkboard, a News & Record blog on local school boards, three of the four elements are present.
People certainly share an emotional connection when it comes to the education of their children. The discussions on this blog are some of the richest and result in a large number of comments. Interestingly, many people who comment on this blog use pseudonyms, and these people tend to be the most aggressive in their comments. It seems that allowing people to enter fake names causes them to take more liberty in their statements because they are less likely to be held personally accountable. While this could pose a danger, people wrote that they felt safer, because they did not want other people to be able to identify them.
In a conversation on the blog, some people wrote that they worked for the school district and feared retribution, and many had children in school, and wrote that they did not want their children to be unfairly effected by their comments. Others wrote that they proudly used their names because they stood behind what they wrote, insinuating that those who used pseudonyms were less credible, less firm in their beliefs, or ashamed to reveal themselves. Either way, it seems providing the option to be anonymous resulted in more overall interaction. That is one benefit of both anonymous speech and blogs.
Anonymous speech can, however, detract from the writer’s credibility, and therefore interfere with the creation of community. Most definitions of community require identification. As stated earlier, the definition used in this thesis is centered on relationships between people. If certain members of a geographic community wore masks or wouldn't reveal their identities, that would certainly hinder the sense of community in that neighborhood.
As one can see by reading The Chalkboard, some commenters become abusive, possibly because they do not feel accountable for what they write as an unidentified blog reader. Results from the survey also suggest that those who identified themselves on the blogs (those who used a password to fill out the survey) had a higher sense of community on the blogs than those who did not. Also, the number of identified blog readers who filled out the survey was triple that of the unidentified blog readers who filled out the survey. This result may indicate an aptitude for interaction that could feed into the virtuous cycle mentioned earlier. (It may also recommend the use of one method of gathering a sample of blog readers for a survey.) In the case of The Chalkboard, more moderator interaction may help keep the conversation civil, but it may cut down on the number of comments.
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So what does this mean for business? Well, if newspapers can create a sense of community, they can engage readers in civic life, and make the newspaper required reading. If the newspaper continues to wield influence, it may also continue to make money.
I'm still thinking about the thesis and its findings. I'll probably spin it into a newspaper column. You can read the pdf too here.
Comments (9)
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I posted this down below on another thread, but it's so low I doubt anyone will see the vindication.. so here it is:
OK, this will get no response from Comrade Robinson, but I'll post it anyway.
Here is a PERFECT example of what I am talking about. AND I ONLY HAD TO WAIT FIVE DAYS TO FIND ONE!!!
AP story about a Republican who jammed phone lines for an HOUR...
Has GOP in the headline">http://www.wtov9.com/politics/9237494/detail.html
Has GOP in the headline
Meanwhile, an AP story about FOUR DEMOCRATS -- including the SON of a congress member -- who actually SLASHED TIRES on election day (more violent and directly stopping people from voting)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/26/politics/main1549034.shtml
No Democrat mention in the headline.. Hmmm
And just GUESS the party affiliation here, which is NOT MENTIONED AT ALL
http://www.wcnc.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8EQKBDO4.html
Posted on May 18, 2006 7:15 PM
I answered it in the "Coming Sunday" comment threat when you left it earlier today, too. So as not to distract from this post, anyone who's interested can go back 5 posts and continue the conversation there, if you don't mind.
Posted on May 18, 2006 7:41 PM
Thank God for social scientists who provide elaborate research studies to prove the obvious.
Posted on May 18, 2006 11:46 PM
I like the N-R blog, and look forward to when we'll be able to "append comments to individual [news] articles".
Posted on May 19, 2006 5:37 AM
by the way, that does not meant a link to the "discussion forum", ala http://www.gotriad.com/forum/forumlist/9/?UserSectionID=13
... it means being able to tag right below the article like we can here.
A search engine would be nice too ..
Posted on May 19, 2006 5:43 AM
JDR: We, also, look forward to enabling comments on individual stories. Indeed, we've been looking forward to it for, oh, about 16 months now. Unfortunately, our tech staff, though able and efficient, can't do everything as fast as we'd like. But they are working on it and it is going to happen.
Posted on May 19, 2006 9:31 AM
So I'm at a wedding and sit with another couple (neighbors) and the VERY FIRST thing they start talking about it how the "greensboro" News & Record won't publish his info on the landfill and what it's really going to cost. I interrogated and asked if he'd sent it to the paper (yes), if he stayed within the word limit (no, but you can't tell this story without more words), and if anyone contacted him about his "scoop," (no).
Honestly, I hadn't sat there more than 3 minutes when this started.
I mentioned that the N&R has a place to submit your own story; it has a reporter who is going to coordinate citizens and reporters; that they want photos with your letters. He didn't know but claimed no one reads the paper anymore. (I couldn't figure out why he wanted his story in such a paper, but it was a wedding and I was trying to be nice.)
Finally, I told him to blog it and he thought that was a very good idea. I have a feeling I'll be talking to him soon.
The point? Even somewhat geeky folks don't know what's going on at the N&R like the bloggers do. Did you ever think we'd be your evangelists?
Posted on May 20, 2006 9:20 PM
Tell him to send it to me, Sue. I haven't seen any such letter about the landfill, although if he submitted it as a "letter to the editor," I wouldn't. That comes into Allen Johnson's shop.
You can also tell him that he's wrong about no one reading the newspaper. More people in Guilford County read the newspaper than any other news publication or broadcast.
And yes, I've always known bloggers do the right thing. :)
Posted on May 21, 2006 8:35 AM
I don’t think they help newspapers, but they surely create community and this an important thing.
Posted on August 16, 2006 6:12 PM