If you have not discovered it before now (I think it has been around for about a year) The Chronicle of Higher Educations has a NING community they call the Readers Panel. They use the community to get feedback from their readers for upcoming stories. I joined last week (there are 232 members) and received a message from an editor this weekend seeking feedback on how to cover the University of Alabama-Huntsville shootings. If you are an avid reader of The Chronicle you might want to check out this community.
UPDATE: I made 1 oversight in this post, and wanted to make a correction. The Chronicle invited members on their Facebook page to join the Readers Panel community. So if you are interested in joining start with their facebook page. The post is January 19. My apologies, I did not realize it was invitation only.
