Their results are interesting: 86% of people who logged on to smaller (300–500 members), branded, facilitated communities made contributions and fewer lurked—in contrast to larger, public communities where most visitors are lurkers, not contributors. Women contribute more than men, but men have more to say when they do contribute.
Some additional findings:
Communities of parents get the highest involvement: of the 66 communities analyzed, parent communities, as a group, had the highest levels of participation. In general, the research found that the stronger the “social glue” – common interests and passions among members- the greater the participation.
Homogeneity triggers participation: the research found that communities based around a particular demographic tended to have higher participation rates. Women and men each participated more in single-sex communities than they did on average in co-ed communities. African-Americans participated at a higher overall level in an all African-American community than they did in other, multi-racial communities. This suggests that people have more in common and are more interactive with a homogeneous group in an online community setting.
Education and household income were not related to community member participation. Again, the passion around the community’s purpose or its social glue appears to influence participation more than traditional demographics like education and income.
More, here.
Michael Stoner Co-Founder and Co-Owner Was I born a skeptic or did I become one as I watched the hypestorm gather during the dotcom years, recede, and congeal once more as we come to terms with our online, social, mobile world? Whatever. I'm not much interested in cutting edge but what actually works for real people in the real world. Does that make me a bad person?