Research has shown that online communities are populated by a range of different kinds of users who play different roles. The most successful online community attracts and retains the right balance of users, which differs based upon the community type since not all are the same.
Communities vary in terms of their size, activity, connection and intended purpose. Some communities, like internally-focused employee communities, have limited memberships and stable populations. Some communities are open to all users and have large and rapidly changing populations. These sites may attract an audience who shares an interest in a particular topic. The size and boundary around a community may vary along with its purpose: some are question and answer spaces, others are collaboration and discussion environments. These differences in usage are useful to know. A community designed for one purpose may actually be used in a different way.
One measure of your community is the mix of user types who have settled into it. Telligent Analytics 3.5 takes user patterns outside the normal realms of traditional Web analytics (like page views and unique visitors) and categorizes them based on their usage, frequency and interactions with other users across your community. Telligent Analytics identifies seven user types who perform key roles in the community and who make critical contributions to its adoption and on-going success. Our reports reveal how many of which user types perform what roles in the community and trend analysis to help you maximize the intended effects of these participants, their roles, and their data.
While other types of user behaviors do exist, these seven user types have been shown to encompass the bulk of community activity and create a unique Social FingerprintTM for each community participant:
By measuring each user's behavior over time, Telligent Analytics calculates a score for a user which describes how much he/she demonstrates each of these behaviors. Each user-type measure integrates elements from one or more of the user's activities and networks created while participating as a member of the online community. Telligent Analytics helps you recognize the diversity of participation in your communities and as a result, you can see how your communities change over time, identify key contributors, and guide your communities toward established goals.
For more information on user types and other essential metrics, please visit our Telligent Analytics library.