Emergence of Online Communities: Empirical Evidence and Theory

21 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2017

See all articles by Yaniv Dover

Yaniv Dover

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Jerusalem School of Business Administration; Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Center for the Study of Rationality

Guy Kelman

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - School of Computer Science

Date Written: November 9, 2017

Abstract

Online communities, which have become an integral part of the day-to-day life of people and organizations, exhibit much diversity in both size and activity level; some communities grow to a massive scale and thrive, whereas others remain small, and even wither. In spite of the important role of these proliferating communities, there is limited empirical evidence that identifies the dominant factors underlying their dynamics. Using data collected from seven large online platforms, we observe a universal relationship between online community size and its activity: First, three distinct activity regimes exist, one of low-activity and two of high-activity. Further, we find a sharp activity phase transition at a critical community size that marks the shift between the first and the second regime. Essentially, it is around this critical size that sustainable interactive communities emerge. Finally, above a higher characteristic size, community activity reaches and remains at a constant and high level to form the third regime. We propose that the sharp activity phase transition and the regime structure stem from the branching property of online interactions. Branching results in the emergence of multiplicative growth of the interactions above certain community sizes.

Keywords: online communities, emergence, stability, social phase transition, discussion trees

Suggested Citation

Dover, Yaniv and Kelman, Guy, Emergence of Online Communities: Empirical Evidence and Theory (November 9, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3068300 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3068300

Yaniv Dover (Contact Author)

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Jerusalem School of Business Administration ( email )

Mount Scopus
Jerusalem, 91905
Israel

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Center for the Study of Rationality

Feldman Building
Givat-Ram
Jerusalem, 91904
Israel

Guy Kelman

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - School of Computer Science ( email )

Edmund Safra Campus
Jerusalem, Yerushalaim 91904
Israel

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
69
Abstract Views
644
Rank
603,475
PlumX Metrics