Users are more engaged with smaller communities

A new study indicates that social networking giants MySpace and Facebook may not hold the key to social networking. According to researchers from Communispace, users are more highly engaged when using smaller networks.

by Kristina Knight

"Big public communities may attract more eyeballs, but they may not be the answer for marketers who are looking for deep engagement with customers", says Julie Wittes-Schlack, Communispace vice president of innovation and research.

The study followed the behavior of more than 26,000 users on 60 private networks and found that the smaller networks had more users participating in the site. According to the researchers, 86% of those users regularly post messages or engage in other site opportunities and only 14% "lurk" within the website. On the larger social networks, the reverse is true.

Researchers found that 99% of large social network users lurk within the site and only 1% participated in networking activities.

The research also found that users are more likely to become members of networking sites, if they are branded properly and fully transparent about their purpose. In fact, branded sites are 71% more likely to have users log on than unbranded sites. Another interesting tidbit is that women are more likely to be active in social networking sites than men.

For marketers considering building a networking platform, this information is very useful. Properly branding the site and properly marketing it to appeal to a smaller group of people could greatly increase the level of engagement.