Comments on: How to solve the chicken and egg problem for a user generated content site http://www.startupdunia.com/india-startups/how-to-solve-the-chicken-and-egg-problem-for-a-user-generated-content-site-2169 Indian startups | Entrepreneurship | India Internet Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:21:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Cricket Games at ibibo http://www.startupdunia.com/india-startups/how-to-solve-the-chicken-and-egg-problem-for-a-user-generated-content-site-2169#comment-19969 Cricket Games at ibibo Wed, 01 Jun 2011 07:41:33 +0000 http://www.startupdunia.com/?p=2169#comment-19969 Cricket Games at ibibo Cricket Games at ibibo

]]> By: pranav http://www.startupdunia.com/india-startups/how-to-solve-the-chicken-and-egg-problem-for-a-user-generated-content-site-2169#comment-13192 pranav Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:03:54 +0000 http://www.startupdunia.com/?p=2169#comment-13192 thanks anand for sharing your experiences..although i would have to say that if the site is initially very bare in terms of content, then getting users to convert into content contributors/ producers is difficult as well.. thanks anand for sharing your experiences..although i would have to say that if the site is initially very bare in terms of content, then getting users to convert into content contributors/ producers is difficult as well..

]]> By: Anand http://www.startupdunia.com/india-startups/how-to-solve-the-chicken-and-egg-problem-for-a-user-generated-content-site-2169#comment-13146 Anand Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:05:48 +0000 http://www.startupdunia.com/?p=2169#comment-13146 Seeding initial content for a UGC is much more harder than it seems initially. Even if you get your family and friends to sign up, have them space out their contribution to the site. Ask them to contribute to the content with consistency. So instead of say a friend signing up and writing 100 reviews on day one, you'd rather have him write a couple of reviews everyday. Go to bloggers and other prolific people on the net and get them to write an honest review of your site. While this might not directly help you seed the content, you will at least start getting the 'content consumers' on your site and some of them might even convert to 'content producers'. I would discourage the scrapping idea. When a user of the site knows the content is scrapped, they won't have any motivation to contribute. Seeding is not the same as scrapping. It's a psychological thing. If your site is a 100% UGC, then don't ever pay anyone to contribute. Just stick to your principles. No fake accounts, no fake contributions. Persuage people you know to sign up and make an honest contribution. Incentives/rewards is again a kind of bribe. You need to socially reward people, by giving them more power on your site. Say, convert a few active users to become moderators of the site. Seek their opinion before starting work on new features. Keep the top contributors in the loop on new developments on your site. Keep the contribution process simple and dumb on your site. From all the visitors you get on your site only a few will contribute to the content (How many of us have uploaded videos on YouTube vs. How many of us have watched YouTube videos). So don't force all your users/visitors to contribute. That's the way it is. Seeding initial content for a UGC is much more harder than it seems initially. Even if you get your family and friends to sign up, have them space out their contribution to the site. Ask them to contribute to the content with consistency. So instead of say a friend signing up and writing 100 reviews on day one, you’d rather have him write a couple of reviews everyday.

Go to bloggers and other prolific people on the net and get them to write an honest review of your site. While this might not directly help you seed the content, you will at least start getting the ‘content consumers’ on your site and some of them might even convert to ‘content producers’.

I would discourage the scrapping idea. When a user of the site knows the content is scrapped, they won’t have any motivation to contribute. Seeding is not the same as scrapping. It’s a psychological thing.

If your site is a 100% UGC, then don’t ever pay anyone to contribute. Just stick to your principles. No fake accounts, no fake contributions. Persuage people you know to sign up and make an honest contribution.

Incentives/rewards is again a kind of bribe. You need to socially reward people, by giving them more power on your site. Say, convert a few active users to become moderators of the site. Seek their opinion before starting work on new features. Keep the top contributors in the loop on new developments on your site.

Keep the contribution process simple and dumb on your site. From all the visitors you get on your site only a few will contribute to the content (How many of us have uploaded videos on YouTube vs. How many of us have watched YouTube videos). So don’t force all your users/visitors to contribute. That’s the way it is.

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