Where does this data about Social Media come from?

January 6, 2010 8:02 AM

Does anyone know the source of this bit of Social Media data?

Yesterday, I attended a webinar about social media and one of the presenters made a comment that caught my attention:

"Roughly 10% of Web users create the consumer-generated content viewed by the other 90%."

Does anyone know the source of this stat? I've performed my best Google-fu, but can't seem to locate it.

posted by zooropa to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Although it doesn't give a concrete source, this wikipedia article may set you on the right track to find out.
posted by urbanlenny at 8:15 AM on January 6, 2010

Actually, if I had read it, I would have read that it DOES, it seems, give a soruce: this.
posted by urbanlenny at 8:21 AM on January 6, 2010

Forrester's Groundswell is the source for similar stats.
posted by designmartini at 8:41 AM on January 6, 2010

Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters by Bill Tancer cites Jakob Nielsen's 1-9-90 rule (1% of people are active contributors, 9% are occasional contributors, and 90% are lurkers), and presents Tancer's slightly different version based on Hitwise data (1% of people create and post content, 9% do things such as editing or commenting on existing content, and 90% are lurkers). Either way, content is created by 10% of Web users and viewed by the other 90%.
posted by needled at 7:12 PM on January 15, 2010