More details at http://platformed.info User contribution hacking. A presentation I gave recently on incentivizing user contributions. This details the elements required to set up and maximize user contributions on platforms like YouTube, Flickr, Dribbble etc.

1. Hacking User
Contributions
How to get users to contribute on your platform
Image: Petr Jan Juračka Sangeet Paul Choudary

2. User contribution platforms
rely on users to create value
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

3. Hence, a platform where users
don’t contribute is a Ghost Town
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr
Credits: Creative Commons/Flickr

4. So how do you get users to
contribute on your platform?
7
questions
to help you hack
User Contributions
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

5. 1
WHY DO USERS CREATE/CONTRIBUTE ONLINE?
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

6. INSTAGRAM
Create & share
cool photos
QUORA
Share my
knowledge
Self-expression
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

7. Self-promotion
TWITTER YOUTUBE
Develop a Broadcast
following myself
Change.org
Promote my
cause
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

8. Everyone’s an artist on the
internet
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

9. 2
ARE YOU PROVIDING TOOLS? OR PIPES? OR BOTH?
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

10. Platforms may provide creation/
infrastructural tools
IFTTT
VIMEO
INSTAGRAM Ability to
Online HD Video
Filters to combine existing
hosting
transform services into a
infrastructure
photos new one
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

11. Platforms may provide pipes
to a specific audience
DRIBBBLE YOUTUBE
TWITTER
Access to review Access to
Ability to build a
of creations by community of
following
peers video viewers
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

12. TOOLS + PIPES
A win in the social era
INSTAGRAM
HIPSTAMATIC Filters + Ability to
Started with Filters to
transform photos VS. share creations on
other social networks
Platforms that provide both tools and pipes offer a better value proposition
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

13. 3
2. HOW ARE YOU MAKING THE CREATIVE
PROCESS EASIER THAN EXISTING OPTIONS?
HOW ARE YOU MAKING THE CREATIVE PROCESS
EASIER THAN EXISTING OPTIONS?
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

14. Powerpoint requires
higher skills
Higher skills required = Higher friction = Lower usage
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

15. Instagram lowers the skills
needed to create cool photos
Lower skills required = Lower friction = Higher usage
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

16. 4
3. IS THERE A ROBUST CURATION MODEL TO
SEPARATE THE BEST FROM THE REST?
IS THERE A ROBUST CURATION MODEL TO SEPARATE
THE BEST FROM THE REST?
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

17. Algorithmic Curation
• Content sorted and ranked through rule-
based automation
• Most scalable model of curation
• However, potential for false positives
• Scale carefully, ‘learn’ and optimize with
social and editorial inputs.
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

18. Social Curation
• Community provided with tools (voting,
rating, flagging etc.) for input on quality of
the creation
• Aggregation of inputs used to sort and rank
creations and determine relevance
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

19. Editorial Curation
• Manual curation by in-house editors
• Helps to understand patterns that can be
automated and scaled
• Important during early days of the platform
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

20. 5
IS THERE AN EQUAL-ACCESS PATH TO THE TOP OF THE
LEADERBOARD?
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

21. 6
IS THERE AN INCENTIVE BEYOND COMMUNITY
RECOGNITION?
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

22. Community recognition
+
Monetization potential
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

23. Community recognition
+
Portfolio Hosting/
Monetization
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

24. Community recognition
+
Desirable job listings
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

25. 7
HOW WILL YOU MAXIMIZE THE NUMBER OF CREATORS?
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

26. Incentivize contributions
initially
YouTube, famously, used
contests to seed initial creation
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

27. Over time, convert
consumers to creators
Converting searchers to
question creators
A user is prompted to add a
question if she fails to find it
while searching.
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

28. However, to get it started, you might have to...
Fake It To Make It
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

29. • Reddit was initially seeded with fake
profiles posting links to simulate activity.
• The links being posted were the kind of
content the founders wanted to see on the
site over time.
• Quality of the initial content also created a
culture of good content in the community.
• MegaUpload sourced popular content (often
copyrighted) and hosted it to generate initial
traction.
• Being copyrighted, the content was often
such that couldn’t be found elsewhere.
• Pirated content led to strong initial traction
despite MegaUpload being a late entrant.
Source: The Platform Thinking Blog
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr

30. In summary...
Understand
motivations of
creators
Structure Create
relevant enabling
incentives technology
Maximize
number of
creators
Image: Creative Commons/Flickr Source: The Platform Thinking Blog

31. For more on platforms
and internet business
models, click below...
The Platform
Thinking Blog