Timesonline has 'totally embraced the two way dialogue with readers'

This article was migrated from an old version of our website in 2025. As a result, it might have some low-quality images or non-functioning links - if there's any issues you'd like to see fixed, get in touch with us at info@journalism.co.uk.

The criticism that surrounded the relaunch of the Times website in February was a bad news story turned good - claimed the chief executive of its moderation firm.

Speaking at the Blogging 4 Business conference, in London today, Tamara Littleton, CEO of eModeration.com - the firm that moderates comments on the Times - told delegates that the relaunch of the Times' site was a good example of a newspaper publisher embracing feedback.

"One of the key things that worked very well for them [during the launch] was that they had on their website bits asking readers what they think, links to what bloggers were saying, and the ability to meet the designers ," she told Journalism.co.uk

"They really opened themselves up to potential criticism and they did get that.

"There were some big problems with the site technically but they managed to overcome those problems.

"The whole of the first day was quite negative, by day two they were starting to fix the problems that had been identified and the tide turned and the positive comments started to come through because people could see that they were being listen to… and that they were not being censored."

Criticism of the relaunch focused on both design overhaul and the crippling load times of pages – which the Times claimed was due to the huge volume of people looking at the site.

Ms Littleton, talking during a conference session called 'Massaging the Message - how PR is adapting to consumers who talk back', added that because the Times opened itself to criticism it was well placed to deal with the teething problems of the relaunch.

"They [Timesonline] totally embraced the two way dialogue with their readers... whether they were technical or design issues Timesonline was able to respond to them, not necessarily personally but through what was changing on the site it was clear that comments were being heard."