At what point do you hit critical mass?

When you start a forum how many members/posts per day/new topics per day would say you have to be getting to have created a forum that will continue to grow and be successfull. (ie its hard to start a community, but once it gets going its easier)

Thoughts?

Jamie

 

I guess it happens when it becomes autonomous.

In the sense all promotion is done through word of mouth. In marketing terms when you become a "brand".

 

100 posts a day is a good start...

1000k members too

I would say at least 20 new topics per day.

 

Only the biggest of big forums are self-sustaining, and even those I feel would die if left untouched for quite some time...

Critical mass, I would say is when you are getting multiple new members everyday without promoting elsewhere...If you can gain 5 new members every day without advertising or promoting, you are probably on your way.

However, dont leave the forums unattended, because they are almost sure to die over time if no development is put into them

 

I usually reach critical mass after I've eaten a huge lunch at Max N Ermas and then come back to the office to down a big bag of BBQ Snyders pretzels.

Seriously folks...yes, don't leave the forum un attended...this is certain death. Many of the start-up questions and topics on forums are How To questions and get to know you questions. If there is nobody to know, or no answers to read then it will certainly become a flop.

 

I agree with the comments on the care and feeding of forums. I have seen more than one go past "critical mass" and then wither and die due to inattention.

I think the concept of critical mass has some merit but it is not a single step. The first step requires sufficient total members and active members that potential new members see it as worth signing up and posting - this occurs about 500 members and a couple of thousand posts, I think. The second step, as suggested earlier, is having a sufficient number of new posts and threads started per day to keep 'em coming home. I think there are subsequent levels of membership that further accelerate growth assuming the other conditions are met - I suspect these occur at about 1000, 2000, 5000, etc., members.

 

I wouldn't define it in terms of how many members/posts/threads/whatever. I'd say that a forum has reached critical mass when the forum's founder can log off, and the moderators run the forum and nobody really notices that the founder isn't there anymore.

 

Hey! Who are you tellin' to log off, buster?!

 

I think it's not only about members, but just as important - traffic. Having guests see the forum and see the posts, finding the forum with good content - interesting conversation - and an asthetic design will encourage those to join. The more members, the more posts, the more content, the more chances for guests to find you and register.

 

I think the key is to try and keep existing members happy. After a time, the same information gets recycled as new memers join and ask the same questions over and over. Adding new functionality to a forum that adds value to your members (and not just gimick value) will help keep your existing members over the long term. Active administration also works well - for example, on my VBulletin board, I added noticed that a lot of joiners we'ren't posting so I added a simple script that sends them a PM on joining welcoming them to the boards and recommending they post an introduction. Those posts increased and, once the new members had made that leap, they started posting more threads. I also get about 75% of them replying to my PM thanking me for my welcome!