Newsweek: User generated revolution looking sluggish

[RJN]

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/09/take ... ve-it.html

There’s no shortage of theories on why Wikipedia has stalled.
...
The practice of crowd sourcing, in particular, worked because the early Web inspired a kind of collective fever, one that made the slog of writing encyclopedia entries feel new, cool, fun. But with three out of four American households online, contributions to the hive mind can seem a bit passé, and Web participation, well, boring—kind of like writing encyclopedia entries for free.
...
Back in 2006, [Howe] predicted that the winners in the social-media world would be “those that figure out a formula for making their users feel amply compensated.” Prizes are a start. Can cash be far behind? Oh, right, then it would just be a job.

[owlice]

Interesting article!

I have to question one thing in the article, however:

Only one in four Web users has left a comment—probably no more than wrote letters to the editor in decades past, says Brian Thornton, a University of North Florida professor who has studied the history of the letters page.

25% of people who read the newspaper or magazine wrote letters to the editor?? I find that an extraordinary (and unbelieveable) claim. Have I completely misunderstood this?

25% of Web users have left a comment -- that seems quite a healthy percentage to me, and I have to suspect that is a MUCH larger percentage than letter-to-the-editor writers.

[Chris Peterson]

25% of people who read the newspaper or magazine wrote letters to the editor?? I find that an extraordinary (and unbelieveable) claim. Have I completely misunderstood this?

It sounds like that's what he's saying. And I agree, it's completely unbelievable. Figure the average newspaper has 100K readers. At ten letters per day, that means 3.6% of readers send in letters. And in fact, many letters come from the same people, so the percentage is even lower. I'd be surprised if even 1% of newspaper readers have ever written a letter to the editor.

25% of Web users have left a comment -- that seems quite a healthy percentage to me, and I have to suspect that is a MUCH larger percentage than letter-to-the-editor writers.

Yup.

Also, there is the question of frequency. I've been a fairly active writer of letters to newspapers. I've probably had a couple dozen published over the years. But I've written hundreds or thousands of posts and comments on online newspaper forums or political blogs.

(I also keep an eye on three or four Wikipedia pages, and tweak them as necessary to fix errors or remove graffiti. I'm a very casual editor, with no status beyond a simple registered user. I always thought those folks who made editing Wikipedia their life mostly needed to get a life.

[owlice]

It sounds like that's what he's saying. And I agree, it's completely unbelievable. Figure the average newspaper has 100K readers. At ten letters per day, that means 3.6% of readers send in letters. And in fact, many letters come from the same people, so the percentage is even lower. I'd be surprised if even 1% of newspaper readers have ever written a letter to the editor.

Oh, I'm sure some newspapers get many more than 10 letters per day! Perhaps a hundred or more for some big papers, and I know you're right about letters coming from mainly a small group.

I thought surely I had misunderstood this; thanks for your confirmation!

[Chris Peterson]

Oh, I'm sure some newspapers get many more than 10 letters per day! Perhaps a hundred or more for some big papers, and I know you're right about letters coming from mainly a small group.

I guess it depends on whether we are talking about letters sent, or letters published. The thing about online comments is that the publishing rate is nearly 100% (which is both good and bad, of course). Most newspapers don't publish more than five or ten letters on any day, so if they are selecting those out of a hundred or more... lots of people aren't being heard.

[owlice]

I guess it depends on whether we are talking about letters sent, or letters published.

Sent, I'd say, since the comment was that 25% of people wrote letters to the editor.

The thing about online comments is that the publishing rate is nearly 100% (which is both good and bad, of course). Most newspapers don't publish more than five or ten letters on any day, so if they are selecting those out of a hundred or more... lots of people aren't being heard.

Word.

My son and I went to my mother's house this evening to clear more stuff; he's been going through one of the bedrooms separating junk from stuff that might possibly not be junk. He brought me a pile of the latter, and in it.... letters to editors of various publications. Many many many letters to editors, both the carbon copies of the originals, and the newspapers with the published letters. One of these pages, from the long-now-defunct Washington Star, had letters from both my mother and grandmother, published next to each other!

Could not help but think of your comment "many letters come from the same people." Indeed!!