Plenty of communities show pointless social stats on their homepage.
But does showing 7 million registered members (as opposed to say four, five, or six million) really make a difference? Are you more likely to join and participate in a community with 30k+ solutions as opposed to 20k+ solutions?
Above a relatively low level, these sorts of metrics become meaningless to members. They don’t reflect the quality of the community experience.
A better approach would be to show metrics that members do care about. For many communities this might be:
- % of questions that receive a solution.
- Average time to get an answer.
- Overall satisfaction rating of the community.
These metrics are more likely to tempt newcomers to join and ask questions. Showing these metrics lets you set goals for superusers and celebrate your successes with them. These metrics let you and your top members feel a part of a common mission together.
Most importantly, these metrics put you on the hook for a number that can go down as well as up. They serve as a promise about the things you care about. They tell your members that you care about more than cramming as many people into your digital space as possible. They tell your members that you want their help as part of that journey.
