Talk to me

TLDR

Online communities attract users seeking information, encouragement, and conversation, yet many interactions fail to elicit responses, limiting engagement. In a longitudinal study of 6,172 Usenet posts, 27 % received no reply, and factors such as prior engagement, content quality, and newcomer status predicted response likelihood, suggesting design strategies to boost interaction.

Abstract

People come to online communities seeking information, encouragement, and conversation. When a community responds, participants benefit and become more committed. Yet interactions often fail. In a longitudinal sample of 6,172 messages from 8 Usenet newsgroups, 27% of posts received no response. The information context, posters' prior engagement in the community, and the content of their posts all influenced the likelihood that they received a reply, and, as a result, their willingness to continue active participation. Posters were less likely to get a reply if they were newcomers. Posting ontopic, introducing oneself via autobiographical testimonials, asking questions, using less complex language and other features of the messages, increased replies. Results suggest ways that developers might increase the ability of online communities to support successful individual-group interactions.