Today we’d like to announce an exciting new feature -- Star Ratings! 🤩 The new Star Rating feature, which allows readers to rate content from one to five stars, is now available to all of our Pro and Business publishers. Ratings provide another opportunity for audience engagement, giving readers an easy means of actively participating in the conversation. On average, engaged readers consume about 4 times as much content compared to passive readers. Focusing on converting more passive readers into active participants will result in more time on site, direct traffic, and audience loyalty. 

At Disqus, we’re always exploring ways to help publishers foster engagement, increase visibility, and grow. Contests and giveaways present fun opportunities to reach new audiences and boost your brand overall. The goal behind contests is simple: encourage people to do something (whether that’s posting a photo or commenting on a post) and reward that engagement with a prize. Giveaways are similar, but winners are chosen at random. Contests and giveaways can be conducted through your site or through other channels. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are especially conducive to such campaigns because of their popularity, ease of spreading content quickly, and interactive nature. The flexibility to design and cater contests and giveaways to fit your needs or budget makes these campaigns an advantageous initiative for small, medium, and large publishers alike. This, coupled with their fun and engaging disposition, are some of the reasons why contests or giveaways can be a beneficial addition to your content strategy.

We love chatting with our Disqus publishers to learn about their different goals, strategies, and advice. As a publisher with a very active Disqus commenting community Man Repeller naturally stood out, and we were lucky enough to interview Hillary Nelson, their Product Manager, last month. Man Repeller is a small but mighty media company that explores a wide variety of topics including fashion, health, beauty, culture, identity, and power. During this interview, we gained some insights into the site’s success, best practices, and future goals. Many publishers face the same issues when trying to build a successful relationship with their readers: engagement, peace-keeping, and audience loyalty. Check out our interview with Hillary below 👇

Connecting with readers and gaining their trust is key to building loyal audiences. Establishing a solid base of dedicated readers is an investment we highly encourage here at Disqus, as loyal audiences are a more reliable source of traffic and tend to engage with content more frequently. For the average media outlet, only 3.8% of all site visitors are loyal readers. But just because they constitute only a small percentage of audience members, these readers should not be overlooked! In fact, they read 5 times more content, spend 15 seconds longer on sites, and visit 4 times more often than non-loyal readers. 👏

If you’re anything like me, chances are you love to keep up with the latest movies and binge-worthy TV shows. We all know the importance of staying up to date with the most current blockbusters or new episodes so friends and co-workers can’t drop any spoiler bombs before we’ve had the chance to watch. This summer, staying on top of the entertainment world is especially pertinent, with countless box-office-breaking hits (Spider-Man, Lion King… need I say more?) and TV show season releases guaranteed to overtake our weekends (hellooo Stranger Things Season 3!). Today we compiled 5 awesome Disqus sites that examine and review the newest films and shows coming out this summer: 

Newsletters are a powerful tool that can turn casual readers into loyal audience members. They are designed to remind readers of your site, give them the 4-1-1 on what you’re up to, and encourage them to come back. When executed correctly, they can create a long lasting link between publishers and their audience 💌. Executed poorly, however, and newsletters are no longer your greatest ally, instead causing annoyance and frustration amongst subscribers. Don’t worry, though-- there are a few things you can do to enhance your newsletter strategy, and I’m here to tell you how!

GIFs are all the rage right now, and their vast popularity comes as no surprise. The versatility of GIFs allows them to play an important role in everything from reacting to news online to storytelling through photojournalism. They are a great way to capture the attention of audiences quickly and effectively convey a message that resonates with others. GIFs also give us the opportunity to express our emotions when we’re unable to in person. 

A few years ago, online news subscriptions were a hot topic of conversation across the digital realm. The “pivot to paid” showed a lot of promise for journalism, presenting the opportunity for publishers to establish a direct financial relationship with readers and supplement volatile digital advertising revenue. 

Summer 2019 is here and we couldn’t be more excited to usher in a new wave of bright interns to contribute to the Disqus team! Over the next ten weeks, they will be spending time learning, innovating, working hard, and of course, we’ll make time for some fun too. Here at Disqus we foster and encourage an environment filled with creativity, growth, development, and curiosity! While this group will be focusing on their respective areas of expertise, we also strive to expose them to all departments of our company.

The newest cohort of consumers is upon us. Generation Z, consisting of those born between 1995 to 2012-ish (everyone says something a little different), will make up 40% of all US consumers by next year. Forty percent! 😱 Commonly mistaken for Millenials (born between 1980 and 1994), members of Gen Z are different and come equipped with different practices and behaviors when it comes to technology and the internet. Also known as “Digital Natives,” these Gen Zers have only ever known the convenience of high-speed Internet, unlike Millennials who experienced some of the dark days of landlines, flip phones, hand-written notes, floppy disks, and perhaps the worst of all… movies not on demand.