The effect of user features on churn in social networks

Abstract

Social sites and services rely on the continuing activity, good will and behaviour of the contributors to remain viable. There has been little empirical study of the mechanisms by which social sites maintain a viable user base. Such studies would provide a scientific understanding of the patterns that lead to user churn (i.e. users leaving the community) and the community dynamics that are associated with reduction of community members -- primary threats to the sustainability of any service. In this paper, we explore the relation between a user's value within a community - constituted from various user features - and the probability of a user churning.