This blog post needs you: the 90-9-1 rule

Ever heard of the 90-9-1 rule? No, I didn’t think so.

But in the world of user generated content it’s a pretty handy rule of thumb to indicate the proportion of creators, contributors and consumers. It reveals that 1% of web surfers are creators. They’re the ones blogging, posting images to Flickr and videos to YouTube. 9% are contributors, web browsers who leave comments on those blog posts/ photos/ videos. They might also contribute by retweeting an article they find interesting. If you leave a comment on this insightful blog post, then you’re also part of that 9% of contributors. But if you don’t, and that’s not a threat by the way, you’re part of the vast majority, the 90% of surfers who are consumers. Consumers, or ‘lurkers’ as they’re described in the UGC world, read the material and move onto the next without leaving a trace, well, apart from helping the hit count of course.

The three groups make up an online community where some participate more than others. The proportions are neatly portrayed in the pyramid graphic, as seen here with different terminology. Surely this tells us that the proportion of ‘users’ responsible for creating ‘user generated content’ is insignificant in comparison with the number who consume that content. Researcher Jakob Nielsen has referred to the phenomenon as ‘Participation Inequality’. Many more web surfers are consumers than creators. As journalism progresses to become more and more web-based will we see a shift in the 90-9-1 rule, with more creators?

If we look beyond the unequal distribution of online creators, the 90-9-1 rule serves to show the huge audience they could potentially reach. Meg Pickard, Head of Digital Engagement at the Guardian puts the argument much more succinctly. In a recent interview with Bottom Up Media she told us: “Even if only one person makes a video, ten times the number will comment on it, and ten times THAT will watch it. That’s not insignificant.”

So the 90-9-1 rule should serve to remind us how many people are touched by user generated content. Like ripples in a pond, one small pebble, or blog post can create many waves, or comments. The rule is also helpful in terms of online community because it highlights the importance of contributors. If you’re blogging in a vacuum, without your nine contributors, you cannot hope to get 90 views or hits. So I suppose the lesson of this post is: comment away dear reader, and then we can see the rule in action!

Image: communitymetrics