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Guardian.co.uk to launch new community section with Pluck

Posted: 13/03/08 By: Laura Oliver

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Guardian.co.uk is to deepen its involvement with social media firm Pluck with plans to launch a new community area on the site later this year, its director of digital content said yesterday.

The new area will aim to identify the 'most useful' members of the Guardian's community of readers and develop a means of asking them questions and gauging their opinions on specific topics, Emily Bell told an industry conference yesterday.

Speaking at the Guardian Media Summit, Bell said social media firm Pluck, whose technology is already set to power user engagement features across the site's different channels, would be involved in the development, but refused to make more than a few details public.

The community platform will be introduced as part Guardian.co.uk's ongoing redevelopment, she said, which is being carried out section by section across the site.

The focus on user-interaction has been strengthened by the success of the arts, sports and Comment is Free sections of the site, Bell added, which have shown a 100 per cent year-on-year growth in page impressions and unique users since adding commenting facilities for readers.

She added that while 'opening up news and commentary to comments has improved our journalism', she did not think reader comments should be a 'default position' on all articles.

"You should make editors think about why they're opening comments. If the answer is, just to get a lot of comments, then don't do it. If the answer is, because you think people have got a lot to add or you want engagement from them then open comments," she said.

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