OPINION: 'Pass-by readers' too often rush to comment in digital world

Source: Standard-Examiner, Ogden, UtahAug.新蒲崗迷你倉 24--As long as newspapers have existed there has been a segment of their audience known as "pass-by readers."These are readers who scan the newspaper headlines and only read a selected number of stories that peak their interest. To some extent, most readers follow this routine. But a true pass-by reader is one who rarely reads beyond the headline or first graph, figuring that is all the information that they need to know.With the explosion of information in the digital world, people now have access to more and more news. This in turn has led to an increase in the amount of pass-by reading, especially when it comes to social media.Combine this practice with the interactivity of social media, and you have a troubling mix of uninformed readers commenting on the content of stories they obviously didn't read.We've noticed this trend on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.This week we ran a story in our print and digital editions on an anonymous customer who left enormous tips at a couple of Ogden-area bars. One tip amounted to $5,000. We promoted the story on our Facebook page with a headline and link to the original story. A number of Facebook readers left comments speculating that the patron was obviously drunk or the credit card was stolen. These comments came despite the fact that the story quoted one of the bar owners saying the credit card was legit and they took extra efforts to assure the patron wasn't inebriated.Our analytics show that a number of readers who view our Facebook posts or Tweets never click on the link to a story. I'm sure that is the case for most news organizations. These are statistics we take into account and work to try to improve the click-through rate. We want people to read the stories on our own digital sites because that is where we can best monetize the traffic.That is part of mini storagehe overall news business plan. However, as a journalist, I am concerned by the willingness of people to comment on stories they don't read. I don't necessarily think there is a higher rate of pass-by readers than there were before the digital age. They just seem more willing to speak out or contribute to the conversation.This is different from a troll, Internet slang for someone who just posts comments to sow discord and start arguments.Separating the incivility, rudeness and objectionable anonymous comments on many digital threads, the ones by pass-by readers are more concerning. That's because these readers are still politically and socially aware of the issues, but for some reason or another, they don't want to properly inform themselves on a topic before engaging in the discussion. This could be because of the convenience of the social media platform, or they are just too lazy to click on the story.I'm aware there may be some technical roadblocks involved with our mobile site not properly linking stories, and that could contribute to the problem. However, I have seen this trend on other news sites as well.Usually another reader, or the moderator, will correct comments that are obviously contradicted by information in the story. And often times the comment maker will thank them for clarifying the matter.It seems that sort of engagement is unnecessary.It could be that readers scanning headlines just can't fight the urge to comment, even if they don't bother to read the story. Kind of like impulse buying.The digital age seems to have converted the pass-by reader into a pass-by comment maker.Andy Howell is executive editor. He can be reached at 801-625-4210 or ahowell@standard.net.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) Visit the Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) at .standard.net Distributed by MCT Information Servicesself storage