What leads a social tool to success?
January 25, 2007 :: by ana 1 responses
How many blogs are out there? Almost 150 million, Gartner predicted. How many wikis are available to the public? Loads. However, when you think in terms of the activity that goes down on this sites, figures are not as high as probably expected. And why is that?
According to Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point there is always an event that suddenly turns something into a success. I wonder what the tipping point is for wikis and blogs to become well-known, respected and full of buzz.
But it is really hard to pin that tipping point down because, in the world of blogs and wikis (i.e. in the world of dynamic, organic, evolving networks), common sense does not always applies.
Wikipedia is, undoubtedly one of the most recognized usages of wiki tools on the Web. Many people helped shaping it and now keep it up to date. However, is it easy to use? Not really. Are people being recognized by their time and effort? Not really. Is it a visually appealing site? Well... not really. So... what makes it so popular? Why do people visit it? Why do people invest on it?
A possible reason for wikis and blogs to suddenly become some popular is the "cool" factor. Because the wikipedia was one of the first public wikis to reach the headlines, it became a cool place to visit. It also became "cool" to say one had contributed to the Wikipedia. Equally, when it comes to blogs, people seem to flock to blogs of "cool" people or "cool" blogs (because of content or design).
Content relevance and quality is another candidate to become the tipping point. The only thing with this one is that this is a catch 22. Visitors will come to access good content, and good content also depends on them visiting and commenting and encouraging others to keep the high quality level going.
A third aspect worth mentioning is the size and strength of the networks surrounding the wiki or the blog. One of the best things about these tools is that they foster network creation, help link related ideas, establish random connections, and consequently support innovation and sensemaking. If by visiting and contributing to a blog one can benefit from a good network of connections, finding pointers to interesting people, ideas, opportunities and other networks, why go anywhere else?
Finally, it feels to me that one other factor, no less important than any of the others, and maybe the sole tipping point for many blogs has to do with the person / people behind it. How knowledgeable the person is, how accessible s/he is, how quick to address visitors' comments s/he is, how likeable s/he is, how respected s/he is, how his/her ideas compare to mine (similar or contradictory ideas are both reason for keep visiting). And sometimes, all it takes, is for the person to present at a conference and be perceived as interesting, controversial, knowledgeable, etc.. Other times, it is all about one blog post that is read by someone and spread (viral marketing in action) attracting many people who then come time and time again.
My common sense would indicate that it's a mixture of all the factors you mentioned. However Malcom Gladwell's thesis seemed to be that a very small number of 'opinion formers' begin an exponential growth in interest regardless of factors such as content, appearance, useability.
I'm not convinced 'The Tipping Point' is the answer, it seemed like an optiistically simplistic solution to a problem that contains any number of unquantifiable factors. But if you come up with a definitive answer be sure to let me know.