Thomas B. Ksiazek holds a PhD from Northwestern University, USA, and is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Villanova University, USA. His research interests include new forms of user engagement with the news, implications of audience behavior for society and the field of journalism, patterns of cross-platform media use, and the application of network analysis to the consumption and production of media. Nina Springer (Dr. phil., LMU Munich, Germany) is an associate professor in the Journalism Department at Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden. Her research focuses on journalists-audience-interactions and the journalistic profession. In the realm of commentary features, she investigated commenters’ motives and contributions to viewpoint diversity, as well as comments’ use for and their effects on audiences and journalists alike.

• Chapter 1. Current Debates on User Commentary; Chapter 2. Comments as Engagement with the News; Chapter 3. Comments as Public Deliberation; Chapter 4. Anonymous Commentary; Chapter 5. Managing and Improving User Comments; Chapter 6. Where do we go from here?

Thomas B. Ksiazek holds a PhD from Northwestern University, USA, and is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Villanova University, USA. His research interests include new forms of user engagement with the news, implications of audience behavior for society and the field of journalism, patterns of cross-platform media use, and the application of network analysis to the consumption and production of media. Nina Springer (Dr. phil., LMU Munich, Germany) is an associate professor in the Journalism Department at Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden. Her research focuses on journalists-audience-interactions and the journalistic profession. In the realm of commentary features, she investigated commenters’ motives and contributions to viewpoint diversity, as well as comments’ use for and their effects on audiences and journalists alike.

• Chapter 1. Current Debates on User Commentary; Chapter 2. Comments as Engagement with the News; Chapter 3. Comments as Public Deliberation; Chapter 4. Anonymous Commentary; Chapter 5. Managing and Improving User Comments; Chapter 6. Where do we go from here?