Scott Karp looks at a recent announcement that the Huffington post will be allowing top commenters on their site to become bloggers:
“But the reality is that online publishers who have succeeded in creating a vibrant community of commenters, as the Huffington Post has, typically find that a relatively small number of highly active participants generate a disproportionate amount of the value — it’s striking how such self-organizing systems invariably create hierarchies. Comment may be free, but most people choose not to avail themselves of the opportunity — and of those that do, some are clearly better at it than others.”
“The Huffington Post has recognized the hierarchy that has naturally formed among their community of commenters and has created a system to elevate some of the top commenters to the position of blogger, where they can have a more powerful platform to create value for the rest of the community.”