In beta
We launched closed beta for Ballhype on February 1st. I think technically it was 2am February 2nd when Jason deployed, but I’ll give him credit for hitting the deadline. Right now one of my challenges is to keep the beta testers engaged. There is a core group that you can tell has already incorporated Ballhype into their regular online consumption of sports news. The others have been checking out the site but not participating actively. It’s a classic example of Jakob Nielsen’s 90-9-1 Rule:
- 90% of users are lurkers (i.e., read or observe, but don’t contribute).
- 9% of users contribute from time to time, but other priorities dominate their time.
- 1% of users participate a lot and account for most contributions: it can seem as if they don’t have lives because they often post just minutes after whatever event they’re commenting on occurs.
His point is that you can’t eliminate participation inequality, but you can take measures to avoid a total imbalance. I find it interesting that we’re already seeing this among our beta testers, a group that I would have thought would all be in the top 10 percent of active users — at least. It’s a good lesson for me though not to take any user or her interest level for granted! And to take steps to make participation easier, more fun, and more useful — even in beta.
Posted by Erin 
05.Feb.07
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Ballhype is great. So how do I manage to move from the 9% to the 1% level? I feel like I’m letting you down!
Glad you like the site, and that you’re looking to move up! What I’m noticing on the site is that the people who already know several other users either through blogging or offline relationships are the ones who are most active and getting the most out of Ballhype. This might be worth a post over on the Ballhype blog, actually… Anyway, it seems the more fun people have with it, the more they use the site and vice-versa. So my guess is that if you invited a couple of friends that you normally talk sports with anyway, your usage would naturally bump you up to the 1%.