This report describes what we learned from analyzing 9,616,211 comments people posted to The New York Times website between October 30, 2007 – the date on which The New York Times began allowing users to post comments to news stories – and August 13, 2013.
Although interactive features, such as comment sections are now the norm on news websites. Based on theoretical concepts of interactivity and convergence, we analyze whether diverse sites are similar in the provision and use of interactive features online. Results reveal many differences in the adoption and use of interactive features based on medium and target. Reasons for differences across these sites are discussed.
