The myth of Web 2.0 democracy. - By Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine

Absolutely fascinating article by Chris Wilson from Slate magazine called Digg, Wikipedia, and the myth of Web 2.0 democracy. In a nutshell he talks about how most of the work in the form of edits, additions, deletes and so on at digg and Wikipedia are actually undertaken by a tiny minority of people who have really taken both systems over. It's worth reading through yourself, but I did particularly want to pull out a couple of facts:

1% of Wikipedia users are responsible for about half of the sites edits.
In 2007 the top 100 diggers submitted 44% of the sites top stories, and in 2006 it was 56%.

The point really is that it's not the wisdom of the crowds, it's a gentle dictatorship of the chaperones.

Comments

[Tim K]

It's not a dictatorship when the masses refuse to participate and are happy being told what to believe.

[Aren Grimshaw]

I believe that Chris is wrong in his views. I have made my own argument to his views on my blog at http://uknetweb.wordpress.com

I can see that his research is of interest; however, it seems to me that his understanding of terms such as 'democracy' is flawed as much as his knowledge of 'Web 2.0' sites.

Aren

[Peter Alsbjer]

It remindes me of what Jacob Nielsen said in the Oct 9 2006 Alertbox (on Participation Inequality): "In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action." Read the full post @ http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html