Getting More People Involved: Keeping More People Involved
1. Getting more people involved: Keeping more people involved Dealing with the “90-9-1 rule” Dr Crispin ButterissFounding Partner, Bang the Table Pty Ltd bangthetable.com onlinecommunityengagement.com twitter.com/bangthetable facebook.com/bangthetable slideshare.net/bangthetable
2. WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT? Me & Bang the Table 90-9-1 Rule Our data Three case studies Ten principles for removing barriers to entry
4. 90-9-1 RULE States that... 90% of visitors are voyeurs 9% of visitors get a little involved 1% of visitors do most of the work Most people don’t have a lot to say
5. MORE A “GUIDING PRINCIPLE” THAN A LAW... 10% of Twitter users make 90% of Tweets 10% of Social Network users provide 30% of content 15% of Wikipedia editors make 90% of edits 5% of all Internet users blog “Inequality” is universal...and not limited to the web (just more measurable)
6. IS IT A PROBLEM? “Obviously, if you want to assess the "feelings of the community" it's highly unfair if one subgroup's [smaller group of] members have the same representation as another subgroup's [larger group of] members. More importantly, such inequities would give you a biased understanding of the community, because many differences almost certainly exist between people who post a lot and those who post a little. And you would never hear from the silent majority of lurkers.” Name withheld
7. IS THIS PROBLEM? “Obviously, if you want to assess the "feelings of the community" it's highly unfair if one subgroup's [smaller group] members have the same representation as another subgroup's 580,000 members. More importantly, such inequities would give you a biased understanding of the community, because many differences almost certainly exist between people who post a lot and those who post a little. And you would never hear from the silent majority of lurkers. “ It isn’t obvious to me
8. LET’S TAKE ANOTHER LOOK “Obviously, if you want to assess the "feelings of the community" it's highly unfair if one subgroup's [smaller group] members have the same representation as another subgroup's [larger group] members. More importantly, such inequities would give you a biased understanding of the community, because many differences almost certainly exist between people who post a lot and those who post a little. And you would never hear from the silent majority of lurkers.”
9. IS PARTICIPATION INEQUALITY UNFAIR? No. As long as there are no deliberate or inadvertent barriers to entry.
10. DOES PARTICIPATION INEQUALITY CREATE A BIASED UNDERSTANDING? No. Policy is (or should be) created based on the strength of an argument, not the number of times it is repeated.
11. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SILENT MAJORITY? Not a problem. Experience shows us that people will get involved if they feel strongly enough and that the web opens up the conversation to marginalised majorities. As long as there are no deliberate or inadvertent barriers to entry.
12. Participation inequality is only a problem if barriers prevent people from participating.... Otherwise it is simply free will