Slightly abbreviated draft version of presentation for upcoming 27 January 2009 Edmonton (Canada) conference on Social Media in Government.

1. DEALING WITH THE“90-9-1 RULE” Managing Participation Inequality for effective Online Community Engagement Dr Crispin ButterissFounding Partner, Bang the Table Pty Ltd Website www.bangthetable.com Blog www.onlinecommunityengagement.com Twiter.com/bangthetable Facebook.com/bangthetable Slideshare.net/bangthetable

2. WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT? Me & Bang the Table 90-9-1 Rule Our data Three case studies Ten principles for removing barriers to entry

3. Over 180 forums for over 70 clients in a little over 2 years

4. 90-9-1 RULE States that... 90% of visitors are voyeurs 9% of visitors get a little involved 1% of visitors do most of the work Most people don’t have a lot to say

5. MORE A “GUIDING PRINCIPLE” THAN A LAW... 10% of Twitter users make 90% of Tweets 10% of Social Network users provide 30% of content 15% of Wikipedia editors make 90% of edits 5% of all Internet users blog “Inequality” is universal...and not limited to the web (just more measurable)

6. IS IT A PROBLEM? “Obviously, if you want to assess the "feelings of the community" it's highly unfair if one subgroup's [smaller group of] members have the same representation as another subgroup's [larger group of] members. More importantly, such inequities would give you a biased understanding of the community, because many differences almost certainly exist between people who post a lot and those who post a little. And you would never hear from the silent majority of lurkers.” Name withheld

7. IS THIS PROBLEM? “Obviously, if you want to assess the "feelings of the community" it's highly unfair if one subgroup's [smaller group] members have the same representation as another subgroup's 580,000 members. More importantly, such inequities would give you a biased understanding of the community, because many differences almost certainly exist between people who post a lot and those who post a little. And you would never hear from the silent majority of lurkers. “ It isn’t obvious to me

8. LET’S TAKE ANOTHER LOOK “Obviously, if you want to assess the "feelings of the community" it's highly unfair if one subgroup's [smaller group] members have the same representation as another subgroup's [larger group] members. More importantly, such inequities would give you a biased understanding of the community, because many differences almost certainly exist between people who post a lot and those who post a little. And you would never hear from the silent majority of lurkers.”

9. IS PARTICIPATION INEQUALITY UNFAIR? No. As long as there are no deliberate or inadvertent barriers to entry.

10. DOES PARTICIPATION INEQUALITY CREATE A BIASED UNDERSTANDING? No. Policy is (or should be) created based on the strength of an argument, not the number of times it is repeated.

11. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SILENT MAJORITY? Not a problem. Experience shows us that people will get involved if they feel strongly enough and that the web opens up the conversation to marginalised majorities. As long as there are no deliberate or inadvertent barriers to entry.

12. Participation inequality is only a problem if barriers prevent people from participating.... Otherwise it is simply free will

13. Maybe they’re just not that into you!

14. More on removing barriers to entry later

15. But first, OUR DATA

16. Preferred?

19. CASE STUDIES The Bays Precinct Australian Cultural Policy Port Macquarie Hastings Council

21. TEN STEPS (+2) TO REMOVING BARRIERS TO ENTRY

22. 1 CONSULTATION PROMOTION Get the message to your target audience

23. 2 CONSULTATION ACCESSIBILITY Make sure your consultation is available to folk with no web access

24. 3 WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY Make sure your website meets WCAG requirements

25. 4 WEBSITE USEABILITY Make sure your website is easy to navigate for newcomers

26. 5 WEBSITE FUNCTIONALITY Make sure your website includes notifications systems to drive return traffic

27. 6 FORUM FUNCTIONALITY Give the forum a clear structure and include “agree” and “disagree” with comment functions

28. 7 WEBSITE AESTHETICS Make sure your website appeals to your target audience

29. 8 KEY MESSAGES This is copy writing, not report writing. Leave the jargon, technical detail and legalese in the background

30. 9 FORUM QUESTIONS Make sure your questions resonate with your target audience. Are they concrete and visceral.

31. 10 MODERATION & FACILITATION Know the difference. Moderation stops people getting upset; facilitation gets people more involved.

32. And just two more things...

33. 11 CLARIFY OBJECTIVES Are your after traffic, comments, dialogue, agreement...?

34. 12 REPORTING Capture BOTH qualitative and quantitative data

35. THAT’S IT Thanks for listening & questions bangthetable.com onlinecommunityengagement.com facebook.com/bangthetable Twitter.com/bangthetable Slideshare.net/bangthetable