ClappingTree’s Web 2.0

“In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.“ – Jakob Nielsen

FOR SOME TIME I’VE BEEN WONDERING: What’re the best ways to encourage comments on one’s blog? And not just any comments, but those that promote meaningful exchange of insights and experiences. I’ve found 10 techniques and 10 plugins through a Google search. Could you add a tip or two here please?

According to usability guru Jakob Nielsen, one needs to:

• Make it easier to contribute. The lower the overhead, the more people will jump through the hoop.
• Make participation a side effect. For example, Amazon’s “people who bought this book, bought these other books” recommendations are a side effect of people buying books.
• Edit, don’t create. Let users build their contributions by modifying existing templates rather than creating complete entities from scratch.
• Reward — but don’t over-reward — participants. Although money is always good, you can also give contributors preferential treatment (such as discounts or advance notice of new stuff), or even just put gold stars on their profiles.
• Promote quality contributors. …give extra prominence to good contributions and to contributions from people who’ve proven their value, as indicated by their reputation ranking.

According to problogger Darren Rowse, one could use these techniques: Read the rest of this entry »

HAVE THE TOP 20 POSTS CHANGED in Tomorrow.sg and Ping.sg this year, when compared with those of last year? Are “sex”, “money” and “controversies” still top reads?

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As of today, the Top 20 (most read) posts in Ping.sg (2008) are (tags appended in the list below are my comments):

1. v1.80 is Here: More Community Features | 81 pongs, 408 reads | by uzyn at Ping.sg Blog – community
2. Going into Ping.sg is now so stressful (see picture) | 79 pongs, 248 reads | by simplyjean at Simply Jean – curiosity
3. My Cousin Saw Mas Selamat! | 78 pongs, 399 reads | by jussaemon at The Original Juice – curiosity, piggybacking (post is not there anymore)
4. Xiaxue gets flamed on high-profile USA blog | 76 pongs, 222 reads | by sheylara at Sheylara.com – curiosity, piggybacking
5. Sex blogging can ruin your offline reputation | 75 pongs, 554 reads | by themediaslut at the(new)mediaslut – sex, advice
6. 15yrs old girl had sex for 300 times.. | 74 pongs, 466 reads | by ylva 2 at missYLva =D – sex
7. EDISON CHEN SEX PHOTOS: Another 200 are leaked online, with possibly more to come | 73 pongs, 1666 reads | by publiceducator on February 10, 2008 at Public Education – sex
8. Tammy NYP – Sex Scandal That Would Not Die. | 73 pongs, 597 reads | by ahpek at Malaysian Blogger – sex
9. Last blog entry | 73 pongs, 274 reads | by dk99 at Decay On Net – curiosity
10. [Living in Sin] Maia Lee is Fucked | 72 pongs, 274 reads | by nocturne at fruit of the poisonous tree – sex Read the rest of this entry »

WILL SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVISTS CHANGE the face of politics in Singapore in one or two years’ time? Will the US Elections voting patterns correlate closely with the subscription, viewership and interaction patterns on YouChoose 08 (on YouTube) and other social media such as Facebook?

Last month (March 25), in a report entitled My Biggest Mistake, TodayOnline reported that Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi admitted making the biggest mistake in thinking that the Internet was not important. The PM’s ruling coalition suffered its worst results ever in March 8 polls that left five states and a third of parliamentary seats in opposition hands.

Among them was 67-year-old opposition Democratic Action Party chairman Lim Kit Siang who won a parliamentary seat in Ipoh Timor. He ran three blogs, which were meticulously updated with multiple posts every day. Long-time blogger Jeff Ooi, 52, also won as a DAP candidate in Penang. Like many other opposition leaders, they were able to reach out to young urban and educated people, many who were voting for the first time. Mr Ooi added that Web users are not limited by age. “We attract many citizens above 45 years old and these are the people who are more interested in politics and the oppositions’ viewpoint.” Read the rest of this entry »

WHAT ARE THE 25 SITES WE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IN 2007? According to Time magazine, they are (in alphabetical order):

1. Amazon.com – a great place to shop for virtually anything (Zappos.com)
2. BBC.co.uk – World news, sports, radio, articles and audio in 33 languages (PBS.org)
3. CitySearch.com – find the right restuarants, bars, nightclubs, hotels and spas in dozens of cities, with editors’ picks and user reviews, and a Yellow Pages directory
4. Craigslist.org – free classified ads in every category organized by locale
5. Del.icio.us – popular social bookmarking system which can be tagged and searched by keywords
6. Digg.com – leader in social news, where users determine what’s important and interesting by “digging” it and posting a comment.
7. Ebay.com – online auction powerhouse
8. ESPN.com – everything a sports fanatic needs.
9. Facebook.com – popular social network not yet corrupted by marketers and fake friends, dozens of third-party apps Read the rest of this entry »