Posters, Commenters and Lurkers: Looking at Participation Inequality

So, I was originally going to lump this one in with my slushpile links yesterday, but I decided to split it off into its own entry.

Last week, News.com had an article entitled, "Study finds weak participation on Web 2.0 sites", which quotes a study that suggests that the vast majority of visitors to social media sites (where users submit content like pictures, videos, links or stories), are sponging off the comparatively few people who are creating or submitting content.

The particular numbers they cite are:
* 0.2% of visits to photo sharing site Flickr are from people uploading photos
* 0.16% of visits to video sharing site YouTube are people uploading video

Now, this general phenomena is not a new thing; as anyone who's participated in an online community knows, you've typically got a small, core group of frequent participants, followed by  a slightly larger number of occasional contributors, then surrounded by a big crowd of lurkers.

Back in October, user interface guru Jakob Nielsen did an entry about this participation inequality and the 90-9-1 rule (90% lurkers/9% occasionals/1% frequent participants) -- the exact percentages will vary depending on where you are, of course, but it's a good rule of thumb.

You can also look at it from a personal level -- in your own blog, you'll have one content creator (you, the poster), a small number of commenters, and a larger number of lurkers -- people who read, but don't comment.

If you use a hit counter, you'll get a sense of how many people are reading, though sometimes, not knowing (or not caring) how many people read your blog can be kind of a saving grace.

Anyway, the Nielsen article suggests some ways that Web sites can encourage participation from more people. For regular folks, I always suggest asking questions that are meant to be answered, as well as making sure you do unto others what you would have them do unto you: Participate in other people's blogs and online media spaces (by linking to them and talking about their content in meaningful ways, as well as leaving comments to let them know that you saw what they posted).

Lastly, remember that no matter how low the participant ratio may be in online social media sites, take comfort in the fact that it's probably still tons higher than in older online media, and especially traditional media (where participation used to be limited to a letter to the editor, or a phone call to a radio call-in show).

Following my own advice, here are a few questions of my own:

* Have you found ways to increase people's participation in your blogs?

* Would you rather have a repeat visitor who lurks, or a drive-by commenter who just says "Hi"?

* Have you ever made a conscious effort to participate and comment in other people's blogs?

Leave a comment and let us know.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: jakob nielsen, participation inequality, lurkers, social media