Discussion: Audience Participation

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Let's talk about audience participation.  Cyberfunded creativity lives or dies on interaction.  Audience participation is what distinguishes crowdfunding from a plain old store online.  It's part of the fuel that drives creators to produce more goodies.  It's part of the bait that attracts new viewers and donors. 

So how does it work?  How do you get people talking?  There are many types of interaction, including:
* Posting polls
* Calling for prompts
* Inviting viewer opinions or critiques
* Looping inspiration
* Asking the creator about the project
* Listing favorite projects for people to discuss
For more ideas on this topic, see "How to Boost Your Audience."

As a creator, what kind of audience participation do you find most useful in the creative process?  What things entice your audience to respond?  Have you tried anything that you really thought would work, but it just flopped?  Do you like audience cross-chat, or find it distracting?

As a viewer, what makes you lean forward and start typing?  Do you prefer polls, comments, Like/Favorite buttons, or some other particular option?  Do you have more fun talking to creators, or cross-chat with other audience members, or both?

Comments

[the-vulture.livejournal.com]

Very much ditto this, especially if there's a possibility that discussion can become collaborative.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I love collaborative discussions too. They're a mainstay of the serial poetry, where people often comment with insightful questions or ideas for development.

Re: Yes...

[the-vulture.livejournal.com]

It's so weird and wonderful where some of those conversations wander. :)

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

It is. This happens with prompted fiction and art too. Look what happened with aldersprig and meeksp when the "Diapering Dragons" sketch sparked a discussion over dragon sizes.