It is easy to assume that the level of user created content on social websites is exploding like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Our recent discussions regarding user creation and innovation can only lead us to believe that this online imagination will no doubt foster the futures of many new businesses.
Not so fast. In a study done by Forrester Research, it appears that the number of so called social media "Creators" has slipped one percent in the US from 24% in 2009 to 23% in 2010. Findings show that while the number of new users has increased eight percent, the percentage of people contributing new content has stagnated.
Are contributors simply experiencing "creation block" or is this a trend that requires closer examination?
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A very interesting article. Locating and encouraging contributors is one of the toughest challenges of user-focused innovation. Most users are not used to, and may be unwilling, to contribute. Using is much easier than contributing. This will likely be a significant challenge in the years ahead.
Another interesting statistic from this study is the fact that contribution rates is much higher in China and Japan than it is in the US or Europe. Does anyone have any thoughts about the reason for this disparity?
There have been sociological studies done in which a group of little girls of Chinese descent and American descent were given legos and asked to create something with it. Other problems included general problem solving. The study noted that the Chinese girls collaborated and acted as a group, with each one's actions benefiting the whole, while American girls tended to try to do it all themselves.
This speaks to a sociological difference between the American values of rugged individualism, and the groupthink philosophies of some Asian countries.
As to why the contribution rates are higher in China and Japan, think about the values underlying TQM (total quality management), and JIT (just in time) manufacturing, wherein each worker is given control of a process and asked to 'own' the process by coordinating it with other processes so that downtime in factories is reduced and productivity is maximized. This can only happen if individuals are willing to contribute and the culture is conducive to contribution, which it is.
To comment on Aric's comment, I think that the 'collective' cultures in China and Japan help lead them to contribute more. In these cultures, the individual is stressed much less and community is the most important thing. Therefore, they are more likely to contribution an idea or design that may not benefit them directly but will have a positive impact on their collective communities.
Also, I think this going along with what we discussed in class today that Threadless's constraint is in designers, not customers. Because contribution rates are fairly low, this is the bottleneck in these businesses.
Good call, Lacey. I think there is some truth to your hypothesis. Also, I think Chinese and Japanese are more likely to be living in urban areas (i.e., in high rise apartments) in which most households have high speed internet access.