Some people think of it with a tear in their eyes; others claim with relief that it’s a natural necessity that had to come some time; the rest feel the excitement of looking for new solutions. The end of Adobe Flash Player planned on December 31, 2020, is already a certainty. It will bring digital publishers new, exciting challenges in their business functioning.
In 2007, Mark Anders, back then an Adobe employee, described the Flash as a new publishing tool of the century, and pointed out how it changes the digital world: “We have let more people publish – whether it’s blogging or having a MySpace page, or uploading to YouTube”. He probably didn’t expect then that a decade later Adobe would announce the death of this technology.
Although it cannot be denied that Flash had a huge contribution to the development of Internet websites and digital magazines, its time has come to an end. Today we are getting ready to say goodbye to this technology for good.
What does it mean for publishers who have used digital publishing platforms based on Flash?
How to Add a WordPress Comments Section to Your Website?
Generating digital publishing revenue has moved from an ad concentrated model to monetization strategies based on paid subscriptions and paywalls. For publishers, this shift means a necessity to concentrate on building an online community gathered around their content. The goal is to transform engaging readers into paying subscribers. Enabling the WordPress comments section, available on desktop as well as on mobile app, can help achieve this goal.
Everyone who has once tempted to read a discussion on the Internet below any article can understand why some publishers decide to disable comments. The reasons seem quite obvious: fear of hate speech, unreasonable criticism or just impolite statements. Constant moderation process requires extra work and, quite often, hiring new employees. It’s easier to close the comments section or… move a discussion to social media channels. The second option means voluntary resignation from keeping readers on publishers’ sites and giving them in the technology giants’ hands.
The possibility of writing (and reading!) comments doesn’t just mean participating in the discussion with the author or other people. It’s an extension of the article, improvement of the journalism value and finally, transformation of passive readers into active ones, which has a huge impact on building a sense of belonging to the group. From here it’s a very short journey to trusting the brand and staying longer with the content, which will result in subscribing and paying. Consequently, you as publishers, journalists and authors face a challenge to be community organizers today.
Where should you start? From making it possible for people to express their thoughts under articles, using different devices they read on. You can do it thanks to tools like Disqus and Facebook Comments.
Get to know how to install the WordPress comments section to start building a circle of your supporters.