Thoughtful Reading: How do Social Networks applications incorporate the ladder of engagement?

While thinking about how to write a pitch letter we need to consider what it is to engage people online with social media.

Engaging people is historically not something journalists did. We write stories that people read, and in that sense we "engage" them, but compared to politicians, for example, we would rarely engage readers in taking action.

The "call to action" is the "ask" that organizations propose online. When a politician asks for money – that is a call to action. When a social network asks you to complete the registration, that is a call to action. This is about "Captology" (a blog I’ve been reading for years) – how technology can captivate and motivate people.

In this post "How do Social Networks applications incorporate the ladder of engagement? Beth Kanter takes a good long look at what it is to participate in online calls to action, specifically with fundraising on Facebook.

She points us to some more thorough research as well:

"Priscilla also introduced me Nicholas Street’s work as well as Participate Online – User Motivation in Mass Participation (PDF) – the research seems to have been commissioned by the BBC and carried out by Sparkler in the UK.  Need to go digest.

While I don’t expect the beat bloggers here to use their social networks to raise money – it is all about calls to action. That first call to action is coming up with the pitch letter, which I have word from most of the Newassignment.net beat bloggers they are working on.