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Community

“… computers are great at generating smart results, and terrible as proxies for community.”

This is what John Battelle, of Boing Boing and Federated Media fame said about Google’s attempt to drive comments through its News service. Earlier this year, Google opened up Google News to comments and it seems like so far it has been a bust. The question is why? Lets expand a little on what John said.


What is community?

Comments are driven when people are either engaged with the author or engaged with the subject matter. Gossip blogs work because their readers are obsessed with the subject matter, blogs like Dosh Dosh and Techcrunch work because the readers feel personally connected to the editors.

By using an algorithm to cull topics that are for the most part “general interest,” Google News has abstracted itself to the point where readers are unable to connect on either of these levels. People don’t like starting conversations with walls. That’s why comment models on newspaper sites generally under perform.

They also face the problem of breadth of information. People are only capable of engaging on a limited number of topics. If you provide them with too much content, they have no idea were to start and so they don’t bother. Even a site like Digg, with hundreds of posts a day, only receives a significant number of comments on the ones that hit the front page. People need to have their attention focused.

Does this mean that Google News is doomed?

Not really. All it means is that Google needs to find a way to make users feel like they are engaging a real editor. This could be as simple as taking a few broad categories (entertainment, politics) and assigning a community moderator to them to help spur conversation. By giving a real human being ownership over a section, you provide the type of focus that people latch onto.


Web 2.0 Roundup

This exercise provides a much more general lesson to anyone trying to build a community. If your model is based on getting users to engage you need to keep the following things in mind –

  • Reduce the scope of your content. People need focus.
  • Give a face to your content. People like having conversations with other people.
  • Don’t lecture, ask questions.
  • Give it time. Communities aren’t built in a day.

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