One percent of what?

Particle Tree makes a good conclusion in their piece about The 1% Rule, but in the process makes a dangerous inference:

This figure may be frightening to web businesses that rely solely on user generated content or developer interaction. They’re essentially competing for a fraction of the 1% of traffic out there that’s willing to actively contribute anything to any cause.

The actual 1% rule says that if your site has user-created content, only one out of 100 of your users will participate by creating the content. But the total number of people in the world who will contribute to any site is much higher than 1%.

This distinction is important. To chase after some magical group of people and try to get them to join your site is futile. If you’re a social network, follow the rules. No matter what, do good stuff.

Then, identify the one percent of your users who contribute, and be really nice to them.

Thanks to Elliot for pointing me to this article.