E-Media Tidbits

thenewstribune.com The Tacoma, WA News Tribune is one of several news orgs offering letters to the editor blogs. What do you think of this strategy?

For some time now, several news organizations have been posting the full text of most reader letters received in a special "Letters to the Editor" blog. Examples include the Decatur (IL) Herald-Review, the Tacoma (WA) News Tribune, The Australian, and The Economist. In my own town, the Boulder (CO) Daily Camera letter blog recently garnered well-deserved praise from BusinessWeek blogger Stephen Baker.

Personally, I enjoy letters blogs. I think they foster a rich connection between the news organization and the community (especially if the news org doesn't yet offer community blogs or forums), as well as provide often interesting and occasionally excellent commentary or information. Plus, since the "letters" section is well-known and comfortable to newspaper readers, this might be an especially attractive type of "bridge content" to bring more print readers online.

The best letters blogs allow comments, and news staff engage readers in conversation there. They also publish all or most letters received -- not just what ran in print. And of course, the best letters blogs offer feeds. (That's how I read the Camera's letters blog.)

Here are a few features I'd like to see in letters blogs, which I haven't seen yet:

1. Cross-links between letters and the stories they reference (if any). This provides valuable context, extends the "shelf life" of stories, and encourages more exploration of the site. (Read: more page views)
2. A subdomain-based URL, such as letters.economist.com, which would be easy to publicize in print, broadcast, or podcast editions -- and easy for community members to remember. If your content management system makes it hard to implement this directly, you can at least create a subdomain redirect.
3. Allow HTML in letter bodies. Letter writers should be able to include links or even embed YouTube videos as appropriate. Also consider allowing letter editors to upload photos, perhaps through a system like the one YourHub offers.
4. Allow voice comments. Letters to the editor are about giving the reader a voice -- so why not really let their voices be heard? Services such as GotVoice (reviewed by TechCrunch) convert voice messages left at phone or cell numbers into MP3 files, which you can then post to your site for streaming or download.

What do you like or dislike about letter blogs? Please comment below. And if you manage a letter blog for a news organization, I'd love to hear what kind of issues it raises behind the scenes.