Participation Inequality

Concept and article, on one of the Power Laws

= In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.

1. Article by Jacob Nielsen: Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute

Description

"Participation Inequality is the tendency for most users to participate very little (if at all) and a few members of the community to account for a disproportionately large amount of the content and activity.

When studied, it was found that user participation generally follows a 90-9-1 Rule:

• 90% of users are "lurkers" (i.e. they read or browse but don't contribute)

• 9% of users contribute from time to time, but other priorities dominate their time

• 1% of users participate very often and account for most of the contributions"

(http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/90-9-1+Theory)

More Information

1. 90-9-1 Theory
2. Article by Jacob Nielsen: Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute