Spreading the honey: a system for maintaining an online community

ABSTRACT

As online communities, such as social network sites, mature, they face challenges in sustaining user engagement. To address this, we designed and deployed a rating system to encourage a broad set of users to promote a diverse set of content on a social network site. By evaluating the impact of the promotions on the site's content and users over time, we found that the system successfully promotes more diverse content and encourages new social interactions between users.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces
          Subjects: Web-based interaction

General Terms:
Human Factors

Keywords:
online community, ratings, rewards, social networking