Starting Online Communities: Motivations and Goals of Wiki Founders
summary
Survey of over 300 Wikia founders shows many start communities quickly and intentionally small: survey of 300+ Wikia founders, about half report deciding to create a wiki within minutes to hours, and 67% expected ≤10 contributors in the first month. Factor analysis collapses 13 motivation items into five factors and reveals the top goal is producing a high-quality information artifact rather than growth; personal content like fan fiction is surprisingly common. Founders who aim for community say they plan classic community-building steps from Kraut and Resnick.
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chapters (11)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:16Why study founders
- 1:15What are founders thinking
- 2:30Findings
- 3:46Argument
- 5:01Niche Communities
- 5:19How Popular is Your Wiki
- 5:43What Can We Learn
- 6:05Takeaways
- 6:50Future Directions
- 8:04Initial Work
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