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How to measure the success of an online community

Greetings This is a translation of the article by Martin Reed "Member count: Not a measure of community building success". The original article can be read at: communityspark.com/member-count-not-a-measure-of- community-building-success / . The article proposed a set of useful metrics that will allow you to really understand how strong your online community is (whether it is a group on Vkontakte, a community in LiveJournal or an independent social resource).

Recently, you can often hear a discussion about how much time is required to build a successful online community . My opinion on this issue remains unchanged. The faster the community grows, the weaker it is. Stop trying to determine the success of a community by the number of its members. It takes time to develop real relationships between people, so if your goal is to build a real community based on real relationships, you need to work on achieving it for a long time and painstakingly.

Counting the number of participants only distracts


You should not dwell on the number of participants. Just focus on this number, how you miss what makes a simple group of people into a single community, and what makes your community unique. Yes, you can see how competitors attracted, say, 10,000 members to their community in the first month of existence. But do you really think that their community is stronger than yours, who is half a year old, and in which 500 people who treat each other as good friends?

If you are only interested in the number of participants, you will probably spend too much money on advertising, site design and functionality, and in contests with expensive prizes.
')
Money doesn't matter when it comes to online communities . As you cannot buy relationships in life, they are not sold online either.

If there are 10,000 members in your community, that's great. But only if it is developed accordingly. If out of 10,000 active are only a couple of hundred members, then the community is undeveloped. Develop subcommunities, create thematic groups based on the interests of participants. With the growing number of participants, the community should also grow.

Metrics used in building online communities


So how do you measure the success of an online community ? To measure success is to understand whether you are achieving the goals for which you created the community. We found that the number of participants is too superficial: it does not provide any information about the real strength of the community, but only distracts.

Here is a set of useful and more accurate metrics for measuring community status:
  1. Number of comments for each topic

    The more comments they leave, the more they are involved in the life of the community. You can go further - count the number of participants in the discussion. It may turn out that the same 2-3 users argue in each topic. In such a case, these over-active members harm the community, and it is worthwhile to support quieter members and involve them in the discussion.

  2. Total number of new posts and comments

    A community in which 500 new posts are posted per day is probably stronger than one in which only 10 posts are posted. Although this is also not always the case. These 500 messages can represent letters of happiness, offers to sell Viagra, advertising porn sites and other spam. Is it worth dropping the community down the drain for a couple of extra posts? It is better to keep the balance of quantity to quality.

  3. Average length of one post or comment

    Again, the appropriateness of using this indicator depends on your goals. But, in my opinion, longer publications indicate a higher level of involvement of community members. It is unlikely that people who are indifferent to the life of the community will spend time on the post of 500 words. If there are many such posts, then you are on the right track (of course, if the content itself is suitable).

  4. The amount of time that participants spend on the community

    If a member spends 10 seconds in the community and then leaves, then you have a serious problem. Either the quality of the content has failed, or the site is simply too difficult to use. This indicator is another reason to pay more attention to the usability of the site than to its aesthetic side.

  5. The number of calls to the internal search

    If people use an internal search for your site, then they trust the community to solve their problems. Do they find what they are looking for? If yes, good. It may be worth raising this content to a more prominent place. If not, then another niche for community development opens up before you. Visitors who do not think that your community can help them will not bother with an internal search engine ( they would rather go and ask Yandex for the necessary information - an interpreter ). Those who like what they see on the site and who want to know more about what the community has to offer is another matter.

  6. Number of private conversations

    Do not be discouraged when community members communicate with each other using personal messages. The fact that they do not create public content does not mean that they do not add value to the community. When participants communicate in private, they build a more personal relationship with each other. It's good.

  7. The number of search queries people use to find your community.

    I hope you are tracking the ways people find your community. This is very valuable information. How many different key requests have been used? The more queries allow you to find a community, the more diverse its content.

  8. The number of links leading to the community from other sites

    The more links, the more interesting, according to other people, is the community. Although this is not always the case. For example, if you build a narrow-topic community or a private club ( in this case, this metric will not reflect the real state of affairs - comment of the translator ). But still, in most cases, if a community is spoken outside it, this is a good sign.

  9. Frequency and volume of moderator intervention

    In theory, community members should be able to resolve their differences. If so, this is the hallmark of a really strong community. The more often you or anyone with moderator rights has to intervene, the weaker the community becomes.

  10. Talk topics

    This indicator is often influenced by the themes of the community itself. But not always. If community members want to discuss more personal issues in the community, then they trust other members. Trust is the most important element of a strong community.

Be patient and don't compare your community with others.


There is always the temptation to compare your community with others from the same field. Do not do this, as it only distracts. After all, you do not want to build exactly the same community as your competitors, you need to offer people something unique. It is certainly useful to follow the development of other communities and keep a finger on the pulse. But do not copy. Do not worry about them, it is better to concentrate on what you create.

Forget about the number of participants in your community - this figure does not reflect how strong and successful the community is. Take a ride in the subway at rush hour. You will be surrounded by thousands of people, but there will be practically no communication between them. And the relationship too. Community is not found there. On the other hand, go to a local cafe during lunch. There will be lunch and chat people 50, maybe. Relationships will be formed and developed. This is much more like a community.

Grow slowly and grow strong.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/80393/

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