Previously I posted about the 90:9:1 rule which states that must users of online social networks lurk rather than participate. I decide to analyze the activity on the new uwebd social network on Ning to see if this applicable.

I did the research when the site was one month old and had 249 members. There were two very active members, 37 members who had some activity (at least one post/comment) , and 210 members who had not been active since joining; resulting in a 81:18:1 ratio. If you changed the definition of “some activity” to be two or more posts or comments, the ratio changed to 91:8:1. (Note that this does not include anyone visiting the site who are not members. Based on data from Google analytics, this number is very small.)

Some other quick numbers:

• 60% of members have added a profile picture
• 18% of members have customized their profile page

As of this morning, there are 337 members, 19 groups, and 87 general forum topics. I encourage everyone involved with higher ed websites to not only join, but to participate as well. Again, the site is located at cuwebd.ning.com.