Luring Your Readers

The conversation (NOT lecture) by Amy Gahran of the Poynter Institute’s E-Media Tidbits on how to engage readers and cultivate an online community sounded less like a lesson on how to be a better journalist, and more like one on how to be an activist.

She instructed the journalists to engage their online community by giving people rewards for their contributions, cultivating a team of core people who “feel invested,” engaging people in a discussion and utilizing email lists and forums.

Gahran’s discussion reminded me of my days as a teen activist, rallying my friends to boycott the neighborhood rodeo or trying to create a team of Goshen High School students to advocate for condoms in school. You want kids to show up to your weekly meeting? Bring cookies! You want teenagers to come to your rally? Enlist the football team and homecoming queen!

I thought I left that behind. Does the new new new journalism - the one that values an online community - require the tools of an activist? The cookie jar is ready.