Church of the Customer Blog
« The 1% Rule: Charting citizen participation | Main | links for 2006-05-04 »
May 03, 2006
The 1% Rule: Charting citizen participation
What categories are the most popular among citizen content creators on a product-driven wiki, such as ProductWiki?
1. Electronics. Considering a gadget-driven web audience, not a big surprise.
2. Fashion. Yup, fashion! Even more popular than entries about computers or cars.
3. Media. High number of content creations, low number of page views.
4. Computers. Same as above.
5. Sports and outdoor. More page views than content creations.
Erik Kalviainen, one of the ProductWiki founders, shares this interesting data and other behind-the-scenes numbers on his blog.
The big kahuna of wikis, Wikipedia, shows a disparity between number of contributors vs. total site visitors. For instance, Comscore/Media Metrix says that Wikipedia was the 18th most popular destination website on the web in March 2006, with some 25 million visitors that month alone. But the number of people who actually contribute content to Wikipedia is about 1-2 percent of total site visitors.
For instance, in June 2005 Wikipedia had a total of 68,682 total contributors. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is reported to have told a library group that month:
- 50% of all Wikipedia edits are done by 0.7% of users
- 1.8% of users have written more than 72% of all articles
If we also add evidence from Bradley Horowitz that roughly 1% of Yahoo's user population starts a Yahoo Group, we seem to have The 1% Rule: Roughly 1% of your site visitors will create content within a democratized community. (Horowitz also says that some 10% of the total audience "synthesizes" the content, or interacts with it.)
In an email, Erik from ProductWiki says the 1% Rule applies to ProductWiki as well; he has about 350 total contributors, more than Wikipedia had in its first year of operation.
To some marketers, the polar opposite of the 1% Rule -- the Law of Big Numbers-- might doom any decision to dedicate resources toward a democratized community. Should it? Not necessarily, although any community organizer should be prepared to accept the reality of slow, incremental growth, not a big, Hollywood-style opening.
It would appear that small groups of people often turn out to be the principal value creators of a democratized community. Over time, their work fuels widespread interaction that engages the non-participating community and attracts new ones. If continually nurtured, the community can become a self-sustaining generator of content and value.
Erik and his ProductWiki co-founders are off to a great start but probably have a few years ahead of them to reach the big numbers.
Other blogs that reference The 1% Rule: Charting citizen participation:
» \"Horowitz\'s Law\" finding more true believers from Certified Association Executive
I referred to Bradley Horowitz\'s work on Creators, Synthesizers, and Consumers in an earlier post about the long tail. In the months since I posted that article, I\'ve begun referring to this phenomenon as Horowitz\'s Law. Here\'s more evidence suppor... [Read More]
» Awesome use of a wiki from Deborah Schultz
OK - I have a bunch of lofty thought draft posts waiting for completion (damn, draft mode) In the interim...I just have to post about ProductWiki. This is a great use of a wiki. These guys got it right from [Read More]
» Online communities, bikers and the 1% rule from Canuckflack
Loyal. Dedicated. Vocal. Eager to win new converts and open up new territories. Am I describing a valued customer and contributor, or a hardcore biker? A theory is developing that many online communities depend on that one in a hundred user to populate... [Read More]
» The 1% Rule from Blogspotting
The Church of the Customer writes about the about the 1% Rule--Where 1% of participants at a site end up creating most of the content. (While according to Yahoo's Bradley Horowitz, 10% actively interact with it, while the rest remains more of an audien... [Read More]
» Web 2.0: Dont Trust Anyone Who Isnt Greedy from Left Media
An absolutely fascinating, if a little old, post on the Business Week Blogspotting blog, about a dirty little secret at Wikipedia: its Pareto on steroids. 1% of the visitors do most of the editing. The same lopsided ration apparently applies t... [Read More]
» 1 pourcent from Provokat
Selon le blog CustomerEvanglists, seulement 1% des internautes générent 100% du contenu des sites du type Wiki.
Ouch! Aille! Seulement 1% !?!?
On est loin de l'idéal démocratique du Web 2.0..
Mais, c'est quand même bien.
Si 1% des t [Read More]
» The 1% You Might Want to Focus On from LandingTheDeal
Sales professionals would do well to observe what Seth and Church of the Customer have to say about your 1% of customers that you might want to focus on. 1% sounds like such a small, insignificant number, doesn't it? But... [Read More]
» User contributed content from Leaky Faucet at Twentybelow
Church of the Customer Blog: The 1% Rule: Charting citizen participation Recently I've been a part of some groups planning... [Read More]
» Find your one percent who do it all from Donor Power Blog
Looking forward to the day when you have a beautiful online community where your donors participate with you and each other in a rich conversation about the cause? Here's a reality check from the Church of the Customer Blog: The [Read More]
» La règle du 1% from le blog de groupe Reflect
Dans un précédent billet, aimablement repris par InternetActu, je dissertais sur les limites de la croissance du nombre d'utilisateurs et partageais l'idée que seuls 15% des utilisateurs sont véritablement actifs. Mais combien d'utilisateurs sont réell... [Read More]
» 1 percent from PROVOKAT - PUBLICITÉ NUMÉRIQUE / DIGITAL ADVERTISING
According to the blog CustomerEvanglists, only 1% of web users generate 100% of the content on Wiki sites.
Ouch! Only 1% !?!?
We’re far from the democratic ideal of Web 2.0.
But it’s still pretty good.
If 1% of Quebec television view [Read More]
» The 1% rule from Vidize.com
Ive been trying to incentivize people to use the company Wiki. A new post puts it into perspective. It would appear that less than 1% of people actually contribute in an democratized community.
Out of the millions of visitors to the Wikipedia in... [Read More]
» The 1% rule from Jaffe Juice
COTC writes this post about the 1% rule i.e. about 1% of constituents are typically responsible for the majority/bulk of content/contributions. The prime example given is WikiPedia: (as per WikiPedia founder, Jimmy Wales) 50% of all Wikipedia edits are... [Read More]
» Courtship Of The Brand Crazy from AdPulp
Ben McConnell at Church of the Customer looks at the so-called 1% rule for social media sites. It would appear that small groups of people often turn out to be the principal value creators of a democratized community. Over time,... [Read More]
» 1% of site visitors create content, 10% synthesizes it from Semantic thoughts
In terms of our company, this might be one of the most important posts. The summary at the end I hope will drive home the 3 different focusses we must have.
Here are two great posts:
The 1% Rule: Charting citizen participation
in June 2005 Wikipedia ha... [Read More]
» Peters tre favoriter ur maj månads länkflöde from Det handlar om fibrer [Fleecelabs]
Sista fredagen i månaden och dags att titta tillbaka på vilka länkar vi postat till Del.ico.us. I omvänd kronologisk ordning: I början av månaden presenterade Yahoos Bill Scott de nysläppta designmönstren i kategorin Övergångar. Problemet hur ma [Read More]
» May's top blogging from livingbrands
5 interesting reads from May. Well it's 6 actually, but what's an extra one between friends. And I do seem to have conspired to give Russell Davies two shouts (no favouritism intended)... Fire you customers Avoid cliches Be satisfied You [Read More]
» May's top blogging from livingbrands
5 interesting reads from May. Well it's 6 actually, but what's an extra one between friends. And I do seem to have conspired to give Russell Davies two shouts (no favouritism intended)... Fire you customers Avoid cliches Be satisfied You [Read More]
» Snakes on a Fledgling Writer from ThePublishingSpot
Last night I was reading Chuck Klosterman's hoity-toity Esquire article, The 'Snakes on a Plane' Problem. The essay begins with an excellent meditation on populism, but concludes that this upcoming B-movie's interaction between artist and audience wil... [Read More]
» 1% rules are made to be broken from Greg Yardley's Internet Blog
I really can't stand the "1% rule" - which posits that out of 100 people visiting a website based on user-provided content (also referred to as a 'democratized forum', but that's a misnomer) 1 person will create content, 10 will interact with it someho... [Read More]
» Will the 1% rule change? from Trends in the Living Networks
I was recently interviewed by Mediasnackers, a neat site that focuses on how young people consume and create media. The interview, which is on the Mediasnackers site, covers a number of interesting themes, such as power shifting to the edge... [Read More]
» How Halloween benefits from the 1%ers from Canuckflack
A new take on the 1% rule: on Halloween night, the spirit of candy grubbing children is strengthened and invigorated by those homeowners obsessed with decorating their house and frightening small children on Halloween.
Based upon my sampling of traffic... [Read More]
» Wikipedia Will Fail in Four Years from Technology & Marketing Law Blog
By Eric Goldman About a year ago, I predicted that Wikipedia will fail in 5 years. My logic: * As... [Read More]
Very interesting statistics. I like them for the reason that there is so much hype stirring about Web 2.0, that everyone's getting into the 'fever' again.
To see a model that works, but is realized that will take time, is a refreshing reality check for those thinking everything is going to be hyper-growth.
Thanks, Gary. We hope to test it against similar types of communities and/or programs as well. If you happen to stumble across any similar figures or findings, let us know.
Maybe you should think about paying the 1%. Since they are actually doing the work.
Interesting point of view, but I don't think that the user genereted content production sheme is very different from the ''normal'' creation thing. How many people start a business verus the people working for someone? What percentage of people like fine arts or cinema but never tried to accually create? There are few leaders and many followers.
I’ve spent quite some time on wikipedia - just editing stuff to make it a bit better. Let’s call it a novelty factor. It quickly wore off but there are probably people who go through that same period all the time. Which pushes the whole thing forward.
It’ll be interesting to find out if the 1% that contribute are the SAME 1% over the course of a year. I doubt it.
This is very interesting data! Over the years, all of us have been told the 80/20 Rule (and, it is a VERY useful tool) but it does not apply to all aspects of the human experience. My own anecdotal evidence tells me that websites like wikipedia...and most other volunteer-based activities such as contributing time to non-profit event or local church is closer to the 1% level. Many people are willing to give dollars for such causes, but it is a very slim minority who donate their time and brainpower. Thanks for sharing these statistics.
Thom Quinn
Ben/Jackie,
Your 1% rule has been a real thought provoker. It is a simple shorthand for how marketers need to adjust ther lenses.
I've provided a follow up to the rule called the 20-10-1 Word of Mouth Marketing Rule as I do think there are layers to this Infleucne onion. Here is the post http://buzzcanuck.typepad.com/agentwildfire/2006/08/the_20101_word_.html
As you will notice by my recent Top 11 posts, I'm a big citizen fan of the Church, look forward to the book and keep up the inspiration.
Ben/Jackie,
Your 1% rule has been a real thought provoker. It is a simple shorthand for how marketers need to adjust ther lenses.
I've provided a follow up to the rule called the 20-10-1 Word of Mouth Marketing Rule as I do think there are layers to this Infleucne onion. Here is the post http://buzzcanuck.typepad.com/agentwildfire/2006/08/the_20101_word_.html
As you will notice by my recent Top 11 posts, I'm a big citizen fan of the Church, look forward to the book and keep up the inspiration.
I was doing some word of mouth math homework on the weekend and found that TiVo has 19,000 beta testers as a subset of its community and 3.6 million subscribers - the ratio 0.6% comes pretty close to the 1% rule - not too sure if you can corroborate the number...i'm just a Canadian that still can't get TiVo...cheers
You might be interested in this Future Tense report about an alternate study on Wikipedia contributions done by a Stanford student, Aaron Swartz. Rather than counting the number of edits, as Wales does, Swartz counts the number of characters contributed by each contributor.
His research concludes (based on a small subset of articles) that the vast majority of the content is actually written by ocassional contributors, while the "active" and "very active" contributors make a large number of minor edits and administrative changes rather than contributing content.
The MP3 is here: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/
Swartz's explanation and comments are here: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/whowriteswikipedia
I operate a vehicle reliability research panel at http://www.truedelta.com . Whenever I receive an email, I assume that 100 other people are thinking the same thing, but aren't voicing it. So I take feedback very seriously.
At the same time, for my research to work I have to get people to be active, i.e. to submit information about their repair experiences. My current solution: provide free access to the full results in exchange for helping to provide the data. This boosted the rate at which site visitors join the panel by an order of magnitude.
I think the problem of the 1% is one of incentives. 1% seem to be the number of contributors to any given social site WITH NO CLEAR INCENTIVE to do so. I'm surprised by how many social sites don't recognize this and find innovate ways to incentivize their customers.
guanhua88
zgh1984@yahoo.com
This is Great! I have posted some related sites over here: http://todaytop10.com
If we go with the 'natural' process, yes. But what if you encourage your users to contribute? Like giving prize rewards and such stuff. I think the ratio will go up. Anyway, there must be a good strategy there.
