How do audience comments and online messages affect news production?

In the context of media convergence, the relationship between news organizations and their audiences has shifted from one-way communication to a dynamic, two-way exchange. Audience comments and online messages significantly influence news production in several ways:1

• Agenda Setting and Feedback: Audiences now act as "news actors" who can influence the news agenda. Journalists monitor social media feeds and reader comments to gauge public interest, identify trending topics, and gather story leads.21
• User-Shaped Content: News organizations increasingly use audience metrics—such as which stories are most read or shared—to shape news feeds and determine editorial focus. This data-driven approach has led to the creation of roles like engagement and audience editors to respond directly to user behavior.3
• Participatory Journalism: Through comments and social media, audiences contribute to the ongoing life of a news story, transforming it from a closed text into an "open text". In some cases, news organizations engage in participatory journalism, where they collaborate with the public to generate content or analyze complex documents.413
• Increased Transparency and Workload: The need to engage with online comments and messages has become an essential journalistic value, though it has also significantly increased the workload for journalists, who must now multitask across various digital platforms.1

While these interactions provide valuable insights, they also present challenges, such as the need to verify information found in social media and the difficulty of managing uncontrolled public discourse.125