10 Things the Engaging News Project Learned this Year

There’s no doubt that 2016 will be remembered as a tumultuous year. With the unprecedented presidential election and the seemingly never-ending cycle of tragic events, the news media were more needed than ever before. Yet the media also faced a tough year, with criticism of their coverage and the need to make business-oriented cuts.

2016 has also been a year of many lessons and progress. This year, the Engaging News Project released 10 research reports, all covering topics relevant to today’s news industry. We believe our research findings can be used to help newsrooms improve engagement with their audiences.

Here are the 10 things we learned this year.

1. There are a lot of commenters and comment readers out there

Our study of a nationally representative sample of commenters and comment readers indicates that 55 percent of Americans have left an online comment and 78 percent have read the comments at some point. Commenters on news websites are more likely to be male, have lower levels of education, and have lower incomes compared to those who have read news comments.

2. Commenters want experts to get involved in the comments

That same survey also found that 6 out of 10 commenters want experts to get involved in comment sections. In a survey we did with The Coral Project that will come out early next year, we saw similar findings from commenters on 20 different news websites.

3. Many journalists read the comments

We interviewed working journalists to see how they’ve adapted to the ubiquity of online commenting on news websites. All the journalists interviewed said they read comments at least occasionally, though few set aside time to do so. Two-thirds of the interviewed journalists indicated that they respond to comments, though most noted that they avoided uncivil comments.

4. Comment section design, the day of the week, and comment civility matter

A redesign of The New York Times comment section increased the number of comments, and decreased the use of abuse flags and uncivil terms. When the comment was posted affected discourse as well. The Times receives more comments on weekdays than weekends, but has a higher use of uncivil terms on weekends. The content of the comments influenced how others interacted; comments with profanity and fewer words were less likely to be NYT Picks, while partisan and uncivil terms actually corresponded with a greater number of user recommendations compared to comments without these terms.

5. There are benefits to using solutions journalism — but it’s not a cure-all

In two field tests conducted with Deseret News and the Solutions Journalism Network, we found that time on page was greater for readers of solutions articles compared to non-solutions articles. We also found that readers were more likely to leave the website after reading a non-solutions article.

6. Certain “clickbait” headlines don’t work…

We tested how headlines with varying levels of uncertainty engaged online audiences. Survey participants tended to respond negatively to question-based headlines in comparison to traditional headlines. The topic of the headline amplified this effect, as we found that question-based headlines about Congress elicited the most negative response.

7. …But solutions headlines may work

Working with The Huffington Post, we found that solutions headlines yielded more clicks than non-solutions headlines, but the difference was modest. Factors that were shown to have a discernable impact on clicks included using a “mysterious” unnamed location or group in the headline and adding the word “simple” to the headline.

8. Audiences spend more time with issue-focused election coverage

When it comes to news coverage of local elections, coverage of campaign strategy receives more page views than news stories without it. Audiences, however, spend more time on pages of issue-focused stories than those not mentioning any issues.

9. Mobile notifications can, in fact, help with engagement

A study we did exploring the benefits of mobile news notifications found that people who receive mobile notifications more frequently visit the corresponding app. Notifications also significantly increased knowledge, but only in some cases.

10. News leaders aren’t using metrics

A survey of 525 news editors and directors revealed that while many of the respondents monitor digital metrics, only 20 percent have partnered with researchers to test new strategies for audience engagement and 10 percent have done A/B testing.

To learn more about any of these reports, visit engagingnewsproject.org/research.

For 2017, we already are conducting research that delves even more into how to engage audiences in ways that have both democratic and business benefits. In the coming year, we will release reports on how news organizations cover local elections, how to share election news via Facebook to maximize engagement, and what commenters on various news sites think about the space.

Have an idea on what we should be researching? Let us know at engagingnewsproject.org.

Conducting original, groundbreaking research alongside newsrooms, social media platforms, and organizations looking to influence media practices.

Conducting original, groundbreaking research alongside newsrooms, social media platforms, and organizations looking to influence media practices.