The Information uses comments to sell subscriptions

Max Willens of Digiday writes about how tech news site The Information uses its comment section to build its subscriber base.

Willens writes, “While plenty of specialty publishers like to wax about the community that forms around their content, The Information puts its members front and center. Subscribers get their own bio pages, and the site’s hard paywall is dotted with endorsements and comments from its famous members, which include everyone from Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel to former FCC chairman Julius Chenakowski. Even its subscription call to action entreats visitors not to get access to great information or level up their tech and media knowledge but to ‘Join the community.’

“‘The reason they’ve seen success is they don’t treat the comments section like comments,’ said Jordan Kretchmer, the CEO of the Adobe-owned comments platform LiveFyre. ‘Their original articles always have really strong reporting. I think what that ends up doing is become a catalyst for really good thought leadership dialogue rather than amateur commentary.’

“Being able to read a deeply reported story then a tech A-lister’s reply is great. But being able to add one’s own two cents has proven just as seductive. ‘It feels like you’re participating in something special and exclusive,’ Kretchmer said. ‘You want to show people you’re in there.’

“While some publishers have used analytics and other intel to induce certain behaviors in their comments sections, The Information doesn’t. Lessin said that the tenor and level of comments on the site’s stories has been entirely organic, and it’s been spurred naturally by the shared purpose and interest of readers.”

Read more here.