Common mistakes of reader interactivity
Anna Haynes, a blogger and occasional commenter here, sends Lex and me some love over at Online Journalism Review in a piece about common mistakes that cripple reader interactivity.
From Robert Niles: If you want readers to talk on your website, you need to offer them the one unique feature that no other blog or discussion board can -- the opportunity to talk to you (or your writers).
Anna's quote: Of the more well read blogs, Jay Rosen at PressThink is excellent about responding to my and others' comments -- likewise Lex Alexander and John Robinson of the Greensboro News & Record, and of course, Dan Gillmor. With them, it *is* a dialog. (Links mine.)
In general, it seems like the smaller the blog's readership, the greater should be the obligation to respond to the readers, but typically the initially-small-readership blogs from offline-culture organizations are the least responsive (which is behavior that will tend to *keep* their readership small).
Thank you, Anna. Unfortunately, I don't do all that hot on two of the three common mistakes. We have forums, but they aren't used much. And sometimes, I respond too quickly and frequently to comments. Tell you what, I'll try to do a better job on that. :)
