Why do people contribute online?

Emily Fairbairn
What turns a passive reader online into an active participant? What makes them comment on a story or post a photograph? So many of us skim content online but won’t bother to comment, because that requires a  more in-depth level of engagement which we will not necessarily give, in our hurry to click through to the next story.

In her perceptive blog on the BBC College of Journalism website, Claire Wardle attempts to answer the question ‘what makes people send in their stuff?’. Research she did back in 2007 showed that one of the most significant reasons that people did not submit material was that they felt that they “did not know enough to comment or add anything.”