How widespread is online participation in business?

Given that research into online participation in business is essentially focussed on specific case examples, there is not much data available on dispersion within this form of participation. Case analyses concentrate on the success factors inherent to a targeted address and inclusion of interested stakeholders, especially customers, in the corporate value creation process. To date there has been no systematic survey on the use of participative opportunities among relevant companies or their acceptance on the part of the stakeholders addressed in this way.

Within case studies, it has become generally accepted that a certain minimum degree of participation is necessary on a platform in order to benefit from the „wisdom of the masses“ (Buhl, 2008). Online communities display a specific inward dynamism in which a very small group of protagonists are extremely active – not least to order and structure the community. Another small number of protagonists generate creative input, while the broad masses of members fail to contribute any significant amount of creative initiative and are far more likely to participate merely as commentators or in providing ratings (Shirky, 2008). It follows therefore that a certain minimum participation is needed to generate, and filter out, actual innovation or solutions from the mass of contributions.

Accordingly, numerous studies focus on how to support user engagement on specific platforms, and not on participation in value creation processes as a social phenomenon. Forrester Research (2012) shows that roughly one quarter of all Internet users are active creatively or productively by publishing their own content on the Web, while approximately one third act as „critics“ by commenting on, or rating, content provided by others. However, this survey includes all areas of participation – so at the present time it is not possible to say how many citizens are creatively or critically active in the field of business specifically.