NPR To Eliminate Comments Sections On Its Website

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After eight years, NPR will be eliminating the comments section on its website as of AUGUST 23rd, the network announced in a blog post WEDNESDAY (8/17).

"After much experimentation and discussion, we've concluded that the comment sections on NPR.org stories are not providing a useful experience for the vast majority of our users," Managing Editor for Digital News SCOTT MONTGOMERY wrote in the blog post.  "In order to prioritize and strengthen other ways of building community and engagement with our audience, we will discontinue story-page comments on NPR.org on August 23."  The post noted that while the site's audience has "grown dramatically," the number of commenters represents "far less than 1% of that audience" and "the number of regular comment participants is even smaller. Only 2,600 people have posted at least one comment in each of the last three months --  0.003% of the 79.8 million NPR.org users who visited the site during that period."

The post added that the network takes comments on social media and via other engagement outreach, and is testing a digital platform called "HEARKEN" that allows journalists and listeners to partner on developing story ideas.

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