Sociability and usability in online communities

Determining and measuring success

Bibliographic Data

ID23345484
AuthorsJenny Preece (0000-0002-9713-5344, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume20
Issue5
Pages347-356
Publication date2001-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBehaviour and Information Technology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0144-929X • E-ISSN: 1362-3001
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01449290110084683
OpenAlexW2127557844
LanguageEN
Citations received76
References cited8

Little attention has focused so far on evaluating the success of online communities. This paper begins to identify some key determinants of sociability and usability that help to determine their success. Determinants of sociability include obvious measures such as the number of participants in a community, the number of messages per unit of time, members' satisfaction, and some less obvious measures such as amount of reciprocity, the number of on-topic messages, trustworthiness and several others. Measures of usability include numbers of errors, productivity, user satisfaction and others. The list is not exhaustive but it is intended to provide a starting point for research on this important topic that will lead to develop of metrics. To avoid creating false impressions it is advisable to use several measures and to triangulate with qualitative data, particularly from ethnographic studies.

Human–computer interaction · Reciprocity (cultural anthropology) · Trustworthiness · Usability · Web usability · Applied Psychology · Computer Science · Knowledge Management and Sharing · Open Source Software Innovations · Psychology · Social Psychology · Wikis in Education and Collaboration

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