Washington Post to highlight valuable user generated content

User generated content such as comments added to online articles have always divided opinion. At worst, online comments are nothing more than abusive rants and incoherent spam.

Occasionally, comments are (often unintentionally) very funny. TV Comedian Dave Gorman delights in uncovering the best comments from what he calls “the bottom half of the Internet” in his show Modern Life is Good(ish).

However, the very best online comments add real value to an article by sharing valuable insight or opinion or by contributing to the debate with a well-placed question.

The Washington Post understands the value of their reader comments and has launched an email newsletter to highlight the very best comments left on their website.

Speaking about the new service, Tessa Muggeridge, newsletter and alerts editor at the Washington Post, told journalists: “We really try to treat the comments section here as our own social network that we can control.

Highlighting the fact that the world of online comments is far from perfect, Muggeridge continued: “We recognise there are a lot of problems with comments on the internet, but there’s also an incredible amount of positive discourse that is sometimes buried and hard to find.”

Teddy Amenabar, comments editor at The Washington Post who will compile the newsletter, told journalists: “I’m looking for comments that really summarise the discussion but not just that, comments that also have an interesting view point that might not be said a lot.

“We have stories that are generally more active conversations, not necessarily the stories that have the most readers, but certain topics like parenting, local sports, politics.

“These are areas where we already know we should be looking, but this newsletter is a great experiment to keep exploring where readers are engaging and to actively listen and make it a part of your day as a journalist to see where and what people are saying.”

The comments section on news websites provides PR professionals with a valuable engagement opportunity. However, in such a largely unmoderated and anonymous online community, care has to be taken not to “feed the trolls”.