A new survey provides an in-depth look at the demographic makeup, attitudes and behavior of the people who comprise the online commenting world.

“To date, little is known about the populations that inhabit online comment sections. Who comments online and why? Who reads online comments? And what does the public think about best practices for this space?“ notes the introduction to the survey conducted by the Engaging News Project (pdf) at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas at Austin.

“By studying motivations, attitudes, demographics, and behaviors, this report provides a comprehensive analysis of news commenters, comment readers, and those who do neither,“ said the survey authored by Natalie Jomini Stroud, Emily Van Duyn, and Cynthia Peacock. The survey data were gathered from a representative probability sample of Americans by The GfK Group (formerly Knowledge Networks).

Highlights about news commenting and commenters include: 

• About half of Americans do not read news comments or leave comments on news sites.
• Of those who leave news comments, 53 percent said they comment on news monthly or less frequently, and of those who read comments, 59 percent said that they do so a few times a month or less.
• Americans who leave news comments, who read news comments, and who do neither are demographically distinct. News commenters are more male, have lower levels of education, and have lower incomes compared to those who read news comments.
• Local newspapers’ and television stations’ sites, apps, and social media pages are popular news destinations for both leaving and reading comments.
• News commenters and comment readers most commonly name United States politics or domestic policy as the type of story on which they comment or read comments.
• 56 percent of those who comment on news say they do so to express an opinion or emotion, particularly when the topic is United States politics or domestic policy.
• About one third of news commenters and 41 percent of news comment readers name argumentative comments as the reason that they avoid commenting or reading comments.
• Two-thirds of commenters and comment readers agree that allowing anonymity in comment sections allows participants to express ideas they might be afraid to express otherwise, while 48 percent agree that allowing commenters to remain anonymous raises the level of disrespect.
• 61 percent of commenters or comment readers would like it if journalists clarified factual questions in news comment sections. Similarly, 59 percent would like it if experts on the topic of the article responded to comments in news comment sections.