The 1% rule of internet
I like this rule. I like it because its intuitive, and makes sense of the way things really are. It stops the generalisation which frequently kills internet ideas and models’ credibility.
Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | What is the 1% rule?
It’s an emerging rule of thumb that suggests that if you get a group of 100 people online then one will create content, 10 will “interact” with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it.
Some examples quoted:
youtube – 65K uploads/ 100 million downloads
wikipedia – 1.8% write 70% of the articles
yahoo groups – 1% start a group/ 10% participate/ 100% (of group users) lurk
And the conclusion of the Guardian article is succint:
So what’s the conclusion? Only that you shouldn’t expect too much online. Certainly, to echo Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come. The trouble, as in real life, is finding the builders.
This is important to everyone, because the generalisation says that internet /peers will communicate seamlessly and inform/ educate each other, and in so doing will subvert brand opinion, and replace with consumer opinion.
Reality check .. the minority still influence the majority. In this scenario, the minority is not the brand – the minority are online peers. Now this is not bad news. Its well documented for example that Wikipedia is more accurate than Briticannica for example. So the key here is that the minority are those that are knowledgeable, and are willing to inform and educate.
Where this could have issues, is the extent of pollution by those that want to use the new tools to influence for their own benefit. Spam springs to mind here.
This has important ramifications for marketing/ pinkomarketing.
Technorati Tags: pinkomarketing
Interesting. On my own blog, I believe my comments equate 10% of all my hits.
Blessings,
Shirley Buxton
http://www.writenow.wordpress.com
Shirley
July 20, 2006 at 17:59
Judging by your excellent site, you must have a very active and enthusistic following. I imagine the 1% thing is an average. Looking forward to more comments on this one.
Colin
July 20, 2006 at 18:08
I don’t get that many comments on mine, probably because I’m not discussing so much as I’m bloviating. There’s usually a comment every 300-400 hits.
Dan
July 21, 2006 at 10:01
So our little focus group of three so far, suggests that the 1% rule has valaidity. It makes sense … most meetings / group sessions/ even parties, tend to have dominant elements, and quiet ones. The quiet ones tend to exceed the dominant ones, at least in numbers, if not in noise.
Colin
July 21, 2006 at 22:13
[...] While its an interesting experiment, I am not sure what the results will prove. This will test participation in opensource community development, and I would, similar to Confused’s estimate, expect results same as a wiki that I blogged here. Wiki’s are estimated to get 1.8% of participants writing 70% of the articles. [...]
Confused Of Calcutta Blog Archive None of Us is As Smart as All of Us « Bankwatch
November 1, 2006 at 23:35
[...] 22nd, 2007 · No Comments Some good stats updating the 1% rule that we reported on last year … click through to Church of the Customer for the whole story. Just 0.16% [...]
Update to the 1% rule « The Bankwatch
April 22, 2007 at 17:51