Community Participant Lifecycle
Description
"Amy Jo Kim was the first to propose the idea of a member’s life cycle in an online community (2000). The cycle suggests five phases of a user’s lifecycle within a community:
1) Peripheral (i.e. Lurker) - An outsider, unstructured participation
2) Inbound (i.e. Novice) - New user, invested in the community, on his way to full participation
3) Insider (i.e. Regular) - Committed participator, member of the community
4) Boundary (i.e. Leader) - A member brokering interactions and encouraging/sustaining participation
5) Outbound (i.e. Elder) - On his way to leaving the community, perhaps to another community due to a particular change in the community or personal choice." (http://www.blonde2dot0.com/blog/2008/05/21/incentives-in-online-social-communities/)