Audience participation in the social networking model

I’ve often spoken to clients, colleagues and conferences about the “rule of thumb” in terms of community engagement. This could be engagement in a social network, a community content portal or an enterprise venture. It’s a little Jack Walshian in its approach, but serves to illustrate the point.

* 70% just watch
* 20% actually participate/ create content
* 10% shouldn’t be there in the first place.

While it isn’t backed up with any research/ scientific method, it does guide organisations in terms of how to engage, who to engage, how to segment and most importantly, how important your “social kingpins” (the 20%) are.

This article sites Forrester Research and splits participation as such:

To help companies target their internet strategies, Li and Bernoff have organised Forrester research into a “social technology ladder,” which classifies consumers based on their participation in various types of social networking. On the lowest rung of the ladder are the “inactives,” some 44% of all US American adults who were online in 2007. Higher up are the “joiners,” the 25% who visit social networking sites like MySpace; collectors, an elite 15% who collect and aggregate information; and critics, those who post ratings and reviews as well as contribute to blogs and forums. Only 18% of all online Americans actually create content, publishing an article or a blog at least once a month, maintaining a web page or uploading content to sites like YouTube.

Food for thought … Online engagement is just like the playground. Certain people lead, others bully. Most watch. Everyone remembers …