The 80:20 rule states that you can achieve 80% of your results in most areas with 20% effort. Conversely the last eighty percent of any effort only moves the needle by a small amount. This turns out to be a trueism that applies broadly in many walks of life. But does it apply to user generated content? Is eighty percent of the content created by twenty percent of the users?
Mike at Plum pointed me to the following short article published in the Guardian yesterday. It makes the claim that one percent of people create new content online, ten percent comment on other peoples’ stuff and the remaining ninety perecent simply view it.
One important way to get more people to engage in creating online content is to make it real simple to learn and use the new tools and applications. But I wonder if “real simple” isn’t being translated to “real simplistic” a little too often. If new applications solve real problems and help people simplify their busy and complex lives, communicate more efficiently, discover more relevant information and entertain themselves in the process, then wouldn’t they make an effort to learn how to use the new tools?
So the big question on my mind is: do you make a new online applications simple to the point of being simplistic in order to try to get lots and lots of people to at least try it out… or do you ask people to make a small investment in learning how to do something new that might have a big positive impact on their life?
-hans peter