Towards a Typology of Strategies for User Involvement Arne H. Krumsvik This chapter will propose a typology of four key strategies for user involvement through social media for the news industry. Based on an extensive literature review of international research, and original research in Scandinavia and the US, 1 this contribution will explore the rationale for user involvement, and the strategic use of social media by traditional news media institutions. Identified rationales for user involvement through social media do, among others, include: Civic journalism: Technology allows for more user intervention in the communication process. The promise of this new opportunity became linked to the American Civic Journalism movement (also called Public Journalism), aiming to reform print and televi- sion journalism. Followers of this movement had used town meetings to involve the public in the journalism process. Now new technology made it possible for more users to participate. Citizen reporting: The labels of Citizen Journalism and Responsive Journalism are also used in the analysis of the different aspects within the general phenomenon of Participatory Journalism. In dramatic situations this relationship with the users is of obvious value to the news organization. User loyalty: When asked to rank the top three reasons for promoting participation- based output out of a list of seven, Norwegian executives ranked ‘establishing audience loyalty’ as the most important reason. The securing of loyalty is seen as a main strategic aim that underlies the various tactics for promoting and shaping participation. As one informant put it: ‘interactivity creates loyalty’ (Sundet & Ytreberg 2009). A.H. Krumsvik (*) University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway e-mail: arne.krumsvik@hioa.no 1 This chapter is in part based on original research by the author: Analysis of Scandinavian online newspapers 2011, case study of newspaper production for iPad in Norway 2011, surveys of newspaper executives in Norway 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011, survey of Danish newspaper executives 2007, surveys of users and producers of online newspapers in 2005 and 2008, case studies of Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) and Cable News Network (CNN) 2005–2008. M. Friedrichsen and W. Mu ¨hl-Benninghaus (eds.), Handbook of Social Media Management, Media Business and Innovation, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28897-5_38, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 657