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News groups confuse audience with community, says Guardian blogs editor

Posted: 22/03/07 By: Oliver Luft

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Guardian blogs editor told an industry conference that news groups trying to make money out of blogging communities were 'putting the cart before the horse'.

Kevin Anderson told delegates at the Changing Media Summit in London today that news groups were guilty of confusing audiences with communities and needed to refocus on what was likely to cause people to gather on their websites.

"One of the biggest mistakes they often make is not looking at what a community could be for their audience.

"They immediately think news, but it might be the last thing they should go to," he said.

He added that it was a mistake to think that revamping to give the audience social tools would automatically create a community.

"You have to invest in the community first before you start reaping the benefits, that is the key thing.

"Too often publishers think there is a silver bullet technical solution and if they roll out this social networking site then somehow they will have a community that they can just start making bucks or pounds from," he later told Journalism.co.uk.

"I think that news organisations that think about monetising communities straight away are putting the cart before the horse.

"Often they don't have communities to monetise, they have audiences, but confusing an audience with a community is a common misconception.

"Engagement and respect are the precursors to developing a community. Develop an engaged audience before you think about monetising.

“You can have the best technology but if you don't have engagement and just push your content out there and wait for the comments to come in and you think that's community then you have completely misunderstood what's going on.

"Your community, if there is one, will fail and fall apart because we have to actively be engaged with the people who come to our sites to participate.

"It's not that you build a structure for your audience to participate and you just let them have it. You actually have to be in there and get involved."

He added: "News organisations also need to realise that, in building communities, they may find themselves with a group of people more advertising adverse or sensitive to marketing messages than they would with a traditional audience.

"Even when they get to think about monetising communities, they have to realise the sensitivities that community may have to marketing."

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