Building Successful Online Communities: Evidence-Based Social Design (Hardcover)

Online communities are among the most popular destinations on the Internet, but not all online communities are equally successful. For every flourishing Facebook, there is a moribund Friendster--not to mention the scores of smaller social networking sites that never attracted enough members to be viable. This book offers lessons from theory and empirical research in the social sciences that can help improve the design of online communities. The social sciences can tell us much about how to make online communities thrive, offering theories of individual motivation and human behavior that, properly interpreted, can inform particular design choices for online communities. The authors draw on the literature in psychology, economics, and other social sciences, as well as their own research, translating general findings into useful design claims. They explain, for example, how to encourage information contributions based on the theory of public goods, and how to build members' commitment based on theories of interpersonal bond formation. For each design claim, they offer supporting evidence from theory, experiments, or observational studies.The book focuses on five high-level design challenges: starting a new community, attracting new members, encouraging commitment, encouraging contribution, and regulating misbehavior and conflict. By organizing their presentation around these fundamental design features, the authors encourage practitioners to consider alternatives rather than simply adapting a feature seen on other sites.

網上社群是網絡上最受歡迎的目的地之一，但並非所有的網上社群都同樣成功。每個繁榮的Facebook背後，都有一個衰敗的Friendster，更不用說那些從未吸引足夠會員以維持運作的小型社交網絡網站。本書提供了社會科學理論和實證研究的教訓，以幫助改善網上社群的設計。社會科學可以告訴我們如何使網上社群繁榮，提供關於個人動機和人類行為的理論，這些理論在正確解釋下，可以為網上社群的特定設計選擇提供指導。作者們借鑒了心理學、經濟學和其他社會科學的文獻，以及他們自己的研究，將一般發現轉化為有用的設計主張。例如，他們解釋了如何根據公共財理論鼓勵信息貢獻，以及如何根據人際關係形成理論建立成員的承諾。對於每個設計主張，他們提供了來自理論、實驗或觀察研究的支持證據。本書重點關注五個高層次的設計挑戰：建立新社群、吸引新成員、鼓勵承諾、促進貢獻，以及管理不當行為和衝突。通過圍繞這些基本設計特點組織他們的介紹，作者鼓勵從業人員考慮替代方案，而不僅僅是適應其他網站上看到的功能。