RJI Futures Lab update #41

Retooling online comments

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In this week's Futures Lab update, the Reynolds Journalism Institute shows how people are working to make online user commenting more valuable for both audiences and journalists. RJI looks at the following examples:

Fiskkit
Fiskkit allows users to highlight and respond directly to specific sections of an article. Founder and Chief Executive Officer John Pettus explains how it works.

ReadrBoard
ReadrBoard also provides an in-line commenting system but lets readers react more quickly by just clicking. RJI speaks with Co-founder Porter Bayne to see how it differs from other commenting systems.

Disqus
Disqus is a plugin that powers commenting for more than 3 million websites. Vice President of Marketing and Communications Steve Roy and Product Manager for Engagement Kathy Simpson share how comment technology can help build community.

Gawker Media
Gawker Media has a proprietary commenting system called Kinja that treats audience members as partners in story creation. Hear about the approach from Lauren Bertolini, community development manager at Gawker Media.

The New York Times
The New York Times employs a dedicated team of comment moderators, along with some technical automation, to help useful comments find their way to the top. Community Manager Bassey Etim explains how they work to improve the quality of the conversation.

Watch the RJI Futures Lab video update here.

Too busy to watch it now? Keep up with journalism innovation on the go with the Futures Lab iPad app. Futures Lab video updates appear weekly with reports on the latest in innovation and entrepreneurship for the newsroom leaders of today and tomorrow.

RJI, online commenting
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