Comments on: Implications of the 90-9-1 Rule

By: Jake

Jake — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:38:12 +0000

Interesting. Wow, definitely way ahead of the curve. I wonder if that model would succeed today, i.e. w/the remote.

By: John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)

John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:23:14 +0000

Your comment reminded me of one of the first examples of online participation that I ever encountered.

I graduated from Reed College in 1983 in the midst of a recession, which made it hard to find a job in Portland (and which is why I eventually came to southern California). When I wasn't working temp jobs, I spent time watching cable TV (go Cubs!). One day the cable channel was airing some type of public affairs show, where people could provide feedback via their cable remotes. However, this was an idea that was ahead of its time; hardly anyone used the remotes to provide the feedback they were requesting. I don't even think that 10% of the viewers responded; perhaps it was more like 1%.

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:43:28 +0000

Good point, and yes, I've been referring to old media in the modern age.

I watch the advance of government bodies (federal, state and local) with interest, since I think some of them have begun to see the benefits of participation through New Web. This gets at your point about a return to the way it was, on a larger scale.

By: JordanOAtOracle

JordanOAtOracle — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:57:10 +0000

John, thanks for the perspective. I definitely see how many aspects of social networking could help us in this regard. The fact that network bandwidth and laptop/desktop hardware have reached the zenith required to do ad-hoc collaborative knowledge sharing may allow us to direct MMU style groups to the enterprise; especially in the context of large distributed companies.
I also think that sites like elance, odesk, and mechanical turk are great ideas from an organizational perspective to help enterprises find best-of-breed ad-hoc talent using social media; but here is where I think the trust issue really hits home. No matter how well we integrate social media technologies with enterprise players; if they don't inherently trust the resources or infrastructure (not my cloud, I didn't vet the people personally, etc.) the resources will only be niche players in the long run.
So, I guess it really does come down to trust when it comes to participation between the enterprise and the great unwashed masses (in either direction). Perhaps this is where the SEO and Brand Loyalty folks will really make their money? Helping enterprises engender the kind of trust that's required to elicit ad-hoc/spontaneous participation between a customer/prospect and the organization… regardless of whether that customer is a retailer, partner, supplier, etc.

By: John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)

John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:06:32 +0000

Jake, both you and Jordan seem to have an underlying assumption that people are traditionally consumers, and that participation is now more prevalent than it was in the past. But if we go back to pre-industrial times, there was more participation (with some well-defined limits), such as New England town meetings, Greek democracy, etc.

I wonder if the consumption culture is more a product of the modern age; it's notable that Jordan cited television as the initial example (ironically, Sesame Street was theoretically supposed to elicit participation in its viewers). If this is the case, then trusted social media environments, rather than being something bold and new, would be a return to our roots.

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:34:42 +0000

I've observed that shift over the last two years on Connect, as people begin to find real ways to get work done. Connect exists without top-down mandate, which I think has helped it grow virally, uncovering the good use cases.

Trust is a key component to pushing the 10% (who create content on blogs, Twitter) up to 30% on social networks. I agree consumption is the default behavior for many, but not so much in younger people, who are no longer as used to it as we are/were.

By: JordanOAtOracle

JordanOAtOracle — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:14:55 +0000

I think the 90-9-1 rule is not about trust but more about two things: cultural conditioning, and time. From our first visit to Romper Room/Barney/Sesame Street/Teletubbies/etc. we are conditioned to be lurkers and watch to learn/be entertained/be contained but *not* participate. So, it takes a lot of emotional inertia to fight years of conditioning to be willing to give one's opinion; even when it is requested without qualification. And secondly, for me at least, I am using the web's resources to help me solve problems in a fairly transactional mode. I really have to carve out and dedicate specific time to participate in the networks that I use to help me in my day-to-day job. Perhaps if our employers, from the top down (as in corporate culture) sanctioned some percentage of everyone's work-life to include social networking than we may see a shift in the 90-9-1 effect; at least in the enterprise.