Little things highlight big thinking at the BBC

Those sneaky BBCers are being terribly excellent again.

At the bottom of their story yesterday about the four London bombers (hmm...our style guide suggests “terrorists”), they have a small form with the following header:

“Did you know any of the men involved? Send us your comments using the form below.”

And right there, at the bottom of their perfectly normal news story, they again show their ability to change the world as we know it, simply by asking readers to fill in their name, email address, town and country, phone number (optionally), and any comments.

With just a few lines of code – code, mind you, from a news organization - they’ve leapt light-years ahead of competition and miles down the road of involving citizens in their work.

Think of the scoop they might uncover. Think of the reader comments that will provide fresh and innovative angles, insights, thinking, opinions, and discussion into the news of last Thursday. Think of the page views and minutes spent on the site based on that free community-developed content.

No surprise here. The Beeb was also quick to post mobile-phone images and videos from the bomb scenes last week, prompting news stories about this new form of immediate journalism. (The LA Times wrote the story, but the link is to Yahoo because the Times has the story - yawn - behind a registration system.)

Smart examples of citizen journalism abound these days, but large organizations have almost refused to embrace the phenomenon – even to their clear advantage. Sure, these outfits ask readers for comments about a story or to write Letters to Grand-Poobah Editors – but rarely as a way to extend their coverage.

Jolly good show, BBC.