WildBlueSkies - Trends and strategies in Digital Media

A McKinsey research conducted in Germany found that motives such as a desire for fame and a feeling of identification with a community encourage collaboration and participation. Other reasons stated include the urge to have fun. While this is not very different from the motivations that were presented by Peter Kollock in The Economics of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace and by Mark Smith in Voices from the WELL: The Logic of the Virtual Commons, this research goes further to state that just about 20% of the audience measured cited the possibility of a financial bonus as their main driver.
Other findings:
1. Vistors under 25 years constituted the bulk of the video-viewing audience, but members in the 25 to 44 year-old age group contributed equally to postings. The older users are driven more by a sense of sharing.
2. The most popular content came from a few people. About 3% to 6% of the members added 75% of the contributions, and 2% of the member base accounted for half of all the contributions viewed.
This study has implications for any company trying to put collaborative practices and increase employee participation. For instance, identifying thought leaders and promoting their participation boosts the number of contributions and improves the quality of postings. Other companies strive to make collaboration fun: at Google, for instance, employees place online bets on the likelihood of particular ideas being adopted.
However, I wonder how far fame would account for a person who is posting on Wikipedia, since there is no public form of recogniton for a Wikipedia editor.

Related reads:
User Generated Content - Growth and Monetisation
The changing face of online communities

Filed under: Digital culture