Carrots or Sticks?

It's a well-worn image: using a carrot or a stick to get people to do something. I know there is a ton of research on motivation and I'm not going to cite any of it. This is about my experience being a member of and manager of online communities.

Quite simply, are carrots and sticks equally effective in encouraging community members' participation and engagement?

My answer is simple and definitive: no, sticks rarely work well and carrots are the best way to go. Making people participate doesn't build community. Sure, requiring people to participate in particular exercises can be a good way to get them to try the technology out or get over their initial reluctance to contribute, but it's not a sustainable strategy. Healthy communities consist of members who want to be part of them.

It's a mistake to mandate quotas or activity levels for community members as a condition of membership. Think about it: one of the beautiful things about communities is the ability to participate when you want, how you want, when you have something to contribute. Ban the infrequent contributor and you've lost the opportunity to learn from her when she actually has something to say.

Is there a cost to having "lurking" members? (I hate that term, BTW, since the point of creating content is for people to benefit from it by consuming it.) No. Increasing the number of community members increases the odds that someone will have an insight or an answer at any given moment (remember how probability works from Statistics 101).

Encourage people to participate. Reward and praise them for participating. Most of all, continually explain the WIIFM (What's In It For Me) to them so they realize that contributing isn't some charitable act. It's part of what makes the community valuable for everyone in it, including themselves. For a great example of how to convey this message passionately, see my earlier post: My CEO Rocks. Admit It, You're Jealous!

Carrots rule, no question about it.