What are Reader Call-outs?
A practical guide to inviting audiences into your journalism
What is a Reader Call-out?
A Reader Call-out is a structured invitation that asks your audience to contribute stories, experiences, photos, or information to help inform coverage.
It’s a simple prompt with a clear purpose.
A question.
A debate.
A poll.
A request.
An invitation to take part.
Instead of publishing a story and hoping readers react, you actively ask:
“Tell us what you’re seeing.”
“What was your experience of xxx.”
“Share your experience.”
“What do you think about xxx.”
“Show us what this looks like where you live.”
Reader Call-outs turn journalism from a one-way broadcast into a two-way conversation.
In plain terms
A Reader Call-out is how you say:
“We want to hear from you, and your voice matters to shape this story.”
It’s one of the simplest ways to move from:
passive readership
to
active participation.
And that shift changes everything.
What Reader Call-outs look like in practice
They don’t need to be complicated.
In fact, the best ones are usually small and specific.
Examples:
“Send us your snow photos from this morning”
“How has the rail strike affected your commute?”
“Share us your matchday rituals”
“What questions do you want us to ask the council?”
“Share your experience of donating blood”
“What do you think about the new ban on e-scooters”
“Do you think we should have a European army”
Each prompt gives readers a clear role to play.
Not just reading the story, contributing to it.
Why call-outs work
Because people don’t just want to consume journalism.
They want to:
be heard
share their experience
help others
see themselves reflected
feel part of something bigger
get involved in topics they care about
A good call-out taps into those motivations.
It gives participation a purpose.
And when someone contributes, they’re far more likely to come back and see what happened next.
Participation creates ownership.
Ownership creates loyalty.
→ Explore: Why reader participation drives loyalty more than traffic
How Reader Call-outs are different from comments or social media
Not all audience interaction is equal.
Here’s the difference:
Comments react to journalism.
Call-outs help create it.
That’s the key distinction.
Where Reader Call-outs fit in the newsroom workflow
Reader Call-outs aren’t “engagement extras” or marketing tactics.
At their best, they’re reporting tools.
They help journalists:
surface leads
find eyewitnesses
collect photos and video
understand lived experience
test questions with the community
build richer, more representative stories
Think of them like digital vox pops or on-the-ground reporting, just scaled through your audience.
They extend the newsroom beyond your staff and into the community itself in a digital format.
Turning call-outs into habits
One-off participation is nice.
Recurring participation is powerful.
The biggest results usually come from simple, repeatable formats:
a weekly question
a daily poll
a regular photo challenge
recurring community prompts
ongoing tip lines
Over time, readers start expecting to be able to contribute.
And that expectation becomes habit.
Habit is what drives loyalty, not one viral story.
How Contribly supports Reader Call-outs
Call-outs only work if they’re easy for both readers and editors.
Contribly helps newsrooms:
embed call-outs directly into articles
collect structured photos, videos, and stories
moderate safely and efficiently
manage submissions in one place
capture first-party data
analyse the community and their engagement
reuse contributions across coverage
offer new ways for journalists to continue the conversation
So participation fits naturally into everyday workflows, rather than creating extra admin.
The goal isn’t “more engagement work.”
It’s making participation part of the workflow, because it takes minutes and not days.
Key takeaway
Reader Call-outs are one of the simplest and most effective ways to involve your audience in reporting.
They turn readers into contributors.
Contributors into regulars.
And regulars into loyal communities.
In a world where traffic is unpredictable, that relationship is far more valuable than any single click.
FAQs
Are Reader Call-outs the same as comments?
No. Comments are reactive. Call-outs are proactive and structured.
Do call-outs only work for big newsrooms?
No. Smaller and local teams often see extremely strong participation because community ties are closer.
How often should we run call-outs?
Consistency matters more than scale. Weekly or recurring prompts typically compound participation over time as participation grows into reader habits.
Where should call-outs live?
On your own site, and apps where you control moderation, publishing, and first-party data. You can always promote them on your social media channels. Posts on social inviting readers to come back to site to participate have a high click through rates.