Monitoring and Managing Online Comments in Science Journalism

With the rapid rates and large-scales of writing on the World Wide Web (web), audience participation has emerged as an expectation in 21st century journalism. While this phenomenon is partially due to easy-to-use social media interfaces (Arola, 2010), it is also a consequence of print journalism’s economic collapse. News websites rely on website traffic, such as page-views and duration of pageviews, to generate revenue rather than paid subscriptions from readers. News websites aim to boost these metrics by offering comment sections and other forms of audience participation, such as social media forums.