Conversation is an art. It's an art that is practiced often in person, but rarely does conversation translate well to the online world. Emails are transactional, instant messages temporary, and blogs offer only a conversation with the author, not amongst the audience. Yet on Gather, we have seen members dive into healthy conversations and expand the type of experiences they normally participate in online. In our latest version of the site, we highlight the most engaging interactions for you on the home page.
Think of the new Gather as a gallery for that art. We will select the articles that best illustrate the conversation on Gather, whether it is an article about fiction writing, an opinion piece on global warming, a recipe for English Muffins, or a poem about surfing in Hawaii. One feature of the new Gather that I would like to share with you is our new home page. A click on the Gather logo takes you to a page that features an article in the center, and a selection of groups, images, and members beneath. All of these selections are hand-picked by the Gather Editorial Team to display for you to the rich community that exists in all corners of the site.
For those of you familiar with the old Gather, we have replaced the "Editor's Picks" box with "Featured Conversations." How does an author get their article featured on the new home page? I am so glad you asked. While we will continue to learn and adjust the criteria we use to select our features, here are some tips for getting prized exhibition space in front of the entire Gather community:
A picture tells a thousand words. In addition to the art of conversation, we seek out articles that express themselves in multiple media. That means a thoughtful article, enhanced by a great image, icon or picture, will make it to the top of the list of things we feature. While an article about traveling through Vietnam or Alaska can be described brilliantly in words, a picture of a local vendor or melting glacier makes the words come alive. If your Gather icon reflects you and what you write about, that works too. If you don't have the perfect image or icon, sites like Creative Commons (www.creativecommons.org) and iStockphoto (www.istockphoto.com) can help you out.
Use titles and tags wisely. Titles are key to getting your thoughts read by others. And they make a difference to the Gather Editors when we chose an article. Something short pithy and clear sets the expectation for what the reader will see. Using the best and most accurate tags, especially adding in those that appear along the left side of the page, help describe the intent and perspective of your article.
Stay engaged with your contributors. A conversation doesn't just happen on its own – it requires nurturing from the original "artist" to take from a comment or two into an engaged discussion. When we look for a comment to feature, we look for one that engages both the author and other members to add to the debate.
Finally, keep us posted on your posts or those you really enjoy. Send links to the articles that meet these criteria to the Gather Editorial Team at gathereditorial.gather.com. We can't promise we'll include every one, but we stay on the lookout for the conversations you create and nourish.
David is Editor in Chief of Gather. He publishes this column to help Gather members understand the approach we take to content on the site. His previous columns can be found at editors.gather.com.
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Comments: 7
And as I am adapting to the new Gather, hopefully I will find more of these kinds of discussions.
Thanks.
David
Editor in Chief, Gather