“My job, and the job of any community manager, is to facilitate the creation of content that
solves a problem our readers have, not just reports on it.”
For between 15 and 20 hours a week, I moderate misinformation in the comments section of Wall Street Journal articles. Based on the things I read there, I believe our current levels of discord and misinformation could be significantly reduced if people felt their experiences were more accurately reflected in the journalism they are consuming.
Maybe that’s a pipe dream, but I don’t think so. Here’s why: At its core, journalism is a service, a product. Products depend on users to thrive. Having users believe in a product requires evolving two-way communication into a community that directly influences a product’s development.