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M
EASURE THE S
OCIAL G
RAPH
Measure the Social Graph
In the process of building a community or support forum or similar program the need
for measurement obviously arises. Aside from basic measures such as page views, bounce
rate, and the other standard web analytics that are often reported within social com-
munities—these are after all still web applications, at some level—there is a richer set of
measurable quantities that get directly at the behaviors of most interest.
Participation, influence, and the spread (growth) of the social graph can all be
observed and measured. Importantly, by tracking the types of social activities that
are direct indicators of social behaviors, a community, for example, can be “tuned”
according to the preferences of its members and thereby become more useful, more
likely to be embraced and shared, and more likely to survive and thrive as a result.
Participation
Measuring member participation is a great starting point for understanding how
likely a social network is to grow. Participation is a direct indication of how useful
the community or forum is considered by its members to be. Measuring participation
is straightforward: Because there are obvious external indicators such as “number of
members” or the degree to which profiles are complete (unlike “bounce rate” or “time
spent on a page,” which require analytics tools and conjecture as to meaning), the
social behaviors can be monitored easily. Big Note: This also means that members of
the social network can see them. If the measures “aren’t good,” then this will be visible
to everyone.
Table 11.1 presents a set of metrics that can be used as indicators of partici-
pation. These are measures of individual rather than group (shared) behaviors. For
example, week-over-week growth rate among members (as well as among for-pay
versus freemium membership, etc.), the number of profiles that are complete, and the
number of groups formed or active (if applicable) or similar associations (new forum
topics, and participation within them, for example) are all great (and easy to obtain)
measures that can be tracked and used to guide the growth of the social network.
P Table 11.1 Suggested Measures of Participation
Metric What It Means
Registered Members Overall membership level: Indicates how many people are poten-
tially interested in participating in this application. It’s “potentially”
because joining a network and using it are two different things.
Profiles with Photo Number of members who have taken this significant step in profile
completion: Building on “registered members,” the various ele-
ments associated with profile completeness give a better indication
of actual interest in the social application.