Foundation How The 80/20 Principle Applies To Community Building

[Cpvr]

This video discusses how the 80/20 principle (Pareto principle) applies to community building, suggesting that 80% of community engagement or value often comes from 20% of the members. It emphasizes the importance of identifying and nurturing this core group of active participants to foster growth and sustainability. Practical strategies are mentioned for retaining these key contributors and scaling the community efficiently.

The video outlines several strategies for community building using the 80/20 principle. Key approaches include:


1. Identifying and engaging the most active 20% of users to drive momentum.


2. Providing incentives or recognition to retain top contributors.


3. Streamlining efforts by focusing on high-value activities rather than spreading resources thin.


4. Encouraging organic growth through word-of-mouth from core members.

These strategies help build a sustainable, engaged community by leveraging the energy of the most invested participants.




What are your thoughts on the 80/20 principle when it pertains to community building?

 

[Al]

I think that with my forums these days it's more a 95/5 situation.

 

[Nomad]

While we might disagree with the ratio 80/20 but it is very true that most activities in the communities come from few members. For instance, Al says 95/5 and I might have 99/1. When I was studying marketing in the university, my professor told that businesses need to focus on most successful products and give less importance to products selling sell. I think this applies to forums as well, instead of trying to encourage less members to be active on the forums, we need to focus on most actives and give them the reason to remain active.

 

[Bryn]

For me, it's about 90/10... and I am doing my best to make my forum active as it used to be, even by encouraging my most currently active members to invite others in to boost activity further (and it worked before).