DIGITAL SOUP

A blog by Barry Flanigan

1% rule (Internet culture) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Internet culture, the 1% rule or the 90-9-1 principle (sometimes also presented as 89:10:1 ratio[1]) reflects a theory that more people will lurk in a virtual community than will participate. This term is often used to refer to participation inequality in the context of the Internet.

 

Definition

The 1% rule states that the number of people who create content on the internet represents approximately 1% (or less) of the people actually viewing that content (e.g., For every one person who posts on a forum, there are at least ninety-nine other people viewing that forum but not posting). The term was coined by authors and bloggers Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba[2] although there are earlier references to the same concept[3] that did not use this name.

The "90-9-1" version of this rule states that 1% of people create content, 9% edit or modify that content, and 90% view the content without contributing.

The actual percentage is likely to vary depending upon the subject matter. For example, if a forum requires content submissions as a condition of entry, the percentage of people who participate will probably mostly be significantly higher than one percent but the content producers will still be a minority of users. This is validated in a study conducted by Michael Wu, who uses economics techniques to analyze the participation inequality across hundreds of communities segmented by industry, audience type, and community focus.[4]

This can be compared with the similar rules known to information science, such as the 80/20 rule known as the Pareto principle, that 20% of a group will produce 80% of the activity, however the activity may be defined.

Participation inequality

A similar concept was introduced by Will Hill of AT&T Laboratories[5] and later cited by Jakob Nielsen; this was the earliest known reference to the term "participation inequality" in an online context.[6] The term regained public attention in 2006 when it was used in a strictly quantitative context within a blog entry on the topic of marketing.[2]

 

Filed under  //   influencers  

Illegal music downloads still outweigh legal sevices | News | New Media Age

Illegal music downloads still outweigh legal sevices

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 | By Ronan Shields

Digital music downloads account for over a fifth of legal music sales in the UK, but over 76% of all music downloads are illegal, according to the BPI.

The trade body estimates that total digital music track sales will top 370m, this year with the number of singles sold reaching 160m and the number of albums amounting to 21m.

However, the BPI cited research by Harris Interactive claiming the total amount of tracks illegally downloaded will amount to 1.2bn in 2010.

The average retail price for a single digital track was 82p in 2010, according to research by the OCC in its Digital Music Nation 2010 report.

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, said, “Despite the widespread availability of legal services, they’re having a negligible impact on overall levels of illegal downloading.”

The BPI further predicted that 7.7m internet users regularly download tracks from illegal filesharing sites.

These statistics amount to a loss of £984m in revenue for the music industry, concluded the trade body.

 

Filed under  //   Music  

Music Recommendation Services

From: @RWW Music Recommendation Services Need More Than the Wisdom of Crowds http://rww.to/dbyFzz

Filed under  //   Music  

What makes a great mobile app go viral

Every entrepreneur should read @FrankGruber's notes on what makes a great mobile app go viral: http://bit.ly/cyrnkN

Filed under  //   marketing   mobile