[Web4lib] Interesting Web/Library 2.0 data (wasparticpationSkills for Library 2.0 Leaders)

[Walt Crawford]

Dan et al,

No, it's not my contribution. I've seen it a number of times in the
literature.

One claimed originator is William Hill, research done at Bell
Communications, as reported by Jakob Nielsen in his Alertbox for October 9,
2006 ("Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute,"
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html). Note that
90:9:1 is a relatively mild version of the participation inequality ratio;
others are much more severe, as noted in that article.

-walt crawford-

On 5/7/07, Dan Lester <dan at riverofdata.com> wrote:
>
>
>    ----- Original message ----------------------------------------
>    From: "Walt Crawford" <waltcrawford at gmail.com>
>    >> > Really commenting on an earlier post: From what I've read and
> observed,
>    >> > the Pareto Principle is the wrong one to use for contribution
> ratios in
>    >> > social/web services. The applicable ratio is the 90:9:1
> ratio--that is, of
>    >> > every 100 users, roughly 9 will be occasional contributors or
> commenters and
>    >> > roughly one will be a "real" contributor.
>    >> >
>    >> > I think that's true for Wikipedia, although there it may be more
> like
>    >> > the alternate 990:9:1 ratio since there are so many "driveby
> users." It
>    >> > seems to be true for a range of other "social" sites, including
> blogs and
>    >> > blog reading. (Are 10% of blogs actively maintained, i.e., with
> posts at
>    >> > least once a month?) I'd guess the 90:9:1 ratio is even true of a
> fair
>    >> > number of lists...
>
> As one who has managed a bunch of lists (and more recently also a few
> yahoogroups) for almost twenty years, I used to always use the Pareto
> Principle in such discussions as this one.  In fact, on every one of them
> I'm sure I've covered it several times as people complained about too much
> from a few, or too little from most.
>
> But the above is one I'd not heard/read before (the 90 9 1 or extension of
> it to 990 9 1).   Is there a name for it?  Is it the Walt Crawford
> Principle?  Or???
>
> Serious question.
>
> dan
>
> Show Up, Suit Up, Shut Up, and Follow Directions
> dan at riverofdata.com
> Dan Lester, Boise, Idaho, USA
>
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