Are you familiar with the number sequence 1-9-90?
This is not a date of a very important event in the history or a baffling code similar to Dan Brown’s novels that will help us go through another stage of clues. But of course, it holds a particular meaning that will make us understand something. According to Wikipedia, the number sequence is born from the cultures of the Internet and is actually a rule or a principle which generally describes the participation of the audience in the online entities.
1-9-90, also called 1% rule, says that among the Internet users, only 1% is active in creating contents. 9% refers to the people who views on the content and participates by giving comments and starting a new thread or putting captions when sharing. And the rest, that 90% is only viewing contents and doing a minimal participation, such as merely Liking, sharing or reading. A term has even coined for these silent users – lurkers. It literally describes that 90% of the population who only creeps (on the content) and afterwards, gone!
There has been a hot argument regarding its relevance nowadays, whether it is already dead or not. BBC says it is not applicable anymore. They pointed out that there is a change with the participation of audiences and has gone higher, when it comes to uploading photos, commenting and leading a new conversation. GigaOM disagrees emphasizing that the 1% rule should not be perceived in one type of social media and must be applied to the entirety of the web. Facebook and Twitter can be the examples of the BBC’s point as the social networking sites where interactions are overflowing. On the other hand, blogs and other web contents are good examples of GigaOM’s argument.
At any rate, the said rule is still present. The sad truth that the users are silent and passive is there and something must be done to improve their participation. Another sad truth worth noting is from the 9% of those users active in engagement are trolls. They are usually spamming in blog comments or forums, and must be dealt through content moderation. In fact, every element must undergo the filtering process.
The 1-9-90 rule is not yet dead as the web is extremely a huge place to study. Because of that, everyone has the responsibility to create content for the audience that are appealing enough to stir them to interact and exists purposefully in this digital ecosystem.
Content Moderation Through Various Perspectives 