Online Community - Online Community Virtuous Cycle

Online Community Virtuous Cycle

See also: Metcalfe's law and Bass diffusion model

Most online communities grow slowly at first, due in part to the fact that the strength of motivation for contributing is usually proportional to the size of the community. As the size of the potential audience increases, so does the attraction of writing and contributing. This, coupled with the fact that organizational culture does not change overnight, means creators can expect slow progress at first with a new virtual community. As more people begin to participate, however, the aforementioned motivations will increase, creating a virtuous cycle in which more participation begets more participation.

Community adoption can be forecast with the Bass diffusion model, originally conceived by Frank Bass to describe the process by which new products get adopted as an interaction between innovative early adopters and those who follow them.

Read more about this topic:  Online Community

Famous quotes containing the words community, virtuous and/or cycle:

    “I do not mean to imply that the good old days were perfect. But the institutions and structure—the web—of society needed reform, not demolition. To have cut the institutional and community strands without replacing them with new ones proved to be a form of abuse to one generation and to the next. For so many Americans, the tragedy was not in dreaming that life could be better; the tragedy was that the dreaming ended.”
    —Richard Louv (20th century)

    “Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “Only mediocrities progress. An artist revolves in a cycle of masterpieces, the first of which is no less perfect than the last.”
    —Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)