Motivation to Participate in Social Media?

A student at the company I work for is trying to answer the following question:
Which factors influence the motivation of users to participate in (online) user generated content applications within formal organizations and how, if possible, can these factors be influenced?
I was wondering if you have any ideas on where to start. Are their blogs, books and/or articles that address this topic? Or can we just reuse the work that has been done on this topic with respect to collaboration and communities?

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 5, 2008 at 4:06 PM

    Samuel,

    Maybe Melcrum is a good source. Check their website, and if you want to know more, I have an account with them (for Océ), so you can browse through their published sources.

    regards,

    Jan van Veen

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 21, 2008 at 7:54 PM

    It really depends on how the experience appeals to the user's needs (reference Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs). One reason social media has been so effective is it provides a sense of community and belonging.

    A couple of key points in user generated content...

    1. Make sure the guidelines are clear as to what is acceptable and what is not.
    2. Make sure the process for the user to generate the content is simple to do.
    3. Users want to feel important, so let them know that they are.

    You will get a much quicker adoption rate if people understand what is wanted and how they can participate.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownAugust 22, 2008 at 8:56 AM

    Jan en Nathan, thanks for your comments. That's very helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownSeptember 1, 2008 at 4:27 PM

    I also posted this question on Social Media Today and got a couple of interesting answers.

    ReplyDelete

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