Go to any mainstream news or entertainment website, and you might notice that the comments section has either been removed outright, or it’s a wasteland.
This is probably why NPR, a platform known for its robust community of thoughtful commenters, recently announced that they’re doing away with their comments section in favor of social media interactions via Facebook and Twitter.
Because we all know how thoughtful and intelligent comments are on Facebook and Twitter.
NPR‘s reasoning for this move is along the same lines as most other mainstream sites who’ve already gone down this road. Their in-article engagement is a small fraction of how many people communicate when their social media profile is already logged in. On the surface, this makes a semblance of good business sense. Why not give the people what they want?
I’ll answer that.
Because you shouldn’t reward people for choosing not to read an article before throwing up their opinion on it, just so they can give their two cents on a headline that’s either taken out of context or is simple clickbait.
Because Facebook and Twitter comments are a proven cesspool of negativity, bickering, and intentional ignorance.
Because not everyone wants to have their name, picture, work history, and friends list displayed to thousands of strangers on a daily basis.
Because not everyone wants to create a Facebook or Twitter account.
Because a lot of us who do have accounts don’t want to hunt down the article on Facebook or Twitter (especially on Facebook, which is terrible about archiving these sorts of posts), just so we can gain whatever possible insight we can from the ongoing conversation.
Because abandoning your platform’s natural-born community of loyal readers in favor of junk food social statistics is in bad taste.
Because it’s a bad idea. Period.
At the top of this page, you’ll see an image that paints a picture of the “noise” from social media. The ironic thing is that NPR actually attached this image to their announcement to go exclusive with social media comments. I’m guessing this is a subtle hint that even the editors hate this decision just as much as we should.
For serial
Completely agree.
I have definitely noticed fewer and fewer comment sections, and it annoys me. I often want to add my insight on an article with others who have also read the article and have their own opinions on it. Comment sections do that well. Comments on a Facebook post do not.
Now, let me post this to Facebook so my friends and family can comment on it without actually reading the article. 😉
Hmm interesting. I was actually thinking this was likely a good move by NPR until reading this post. Great points, Jon!
I so agree. I never view a standalone article as the full conversation, and I love reading the comments section, but it is so tiring to scroll through the idiots (and the general “wow everyone on here who is saying x should totally stop because of y” comments) to get to the real substance of the conversation. insert metaphor for all of life here
Keep the comments!!!
Great post, Jon, makes a lot of sense!
Man, this is something that needs to be spoken about and it needs to be taken care of. nice job
obviously a lot of people here don’t want to get rid of comments section and neither do I. More than that, I think comments are very important in an article because base on that, the author will know what is needed to be improved next time of writing 2 player games
I think anyone is free to write any comment they want, after all, there is freedom of thought, but if this situation is exaggerated, it is necessary to take precautions. ultimate swish
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