Don't Forget Pseudonyms!

Don't forget pseudonyms! Hi, we're Disqus. We've been thinking a lot about the types of personalities that participate in online communities. Most people simply compare anonymous vs. real identities. It's not that simple. It's clear to us that the most important contributors online are those using pseudonyms. What is a pseudonym? A pseudonym is a fictitious name chosen by a commenter. Pseudonyms are often used because they are more expressive than the name on the birth certificate! A commenter may use a pseudonym because it better represents her persona in a community. This is different from commenting anonymously – for example, someone may use a pseudonym to leave behind personal ties (e.g. job, relationships, privacy) without sacrificing personality. PSEUDONYMS ARE THE MOST VALUABLE CONTRIBUTORS TO COMMUNITIES BECAUSE THEY CONTRIBUTE THE HIGHEST QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF COMMENTS. Quantity Quality Quantity Signals Positive Signals Negative Signals • Aggregate number of comments by identity O Number times a comment is liked O Number of times a comment is flagged Average number of comments by identity O Number times a comment is replied to O Number of times a comment is marked as spam Number of times a comment is deleted Quality Signals by Identity Percentage of Comments by Identity I Pseudonyms AnonymousI Real Identity Pseudonyms 61% 28% 61% 61% Pasitive, 28% Noutral, 1Nogative 34% 55% 34% Positive, 55% Neutral, 1NNegative Anonymous 35% 51% 51% Positive, 40% Neutral, 9Negative 50 100 Real Identity 4% Average Comments Per User By Identity The average commenter using a pseudonym contributed 6.5 times more than anonymous commenters and 4.7 times more than commenters identifying with Facebook. REAL IDENTITY ANONYMOUS PSEUDONYM Conclusion The most important contributors to online communities are those using pseudonyms. In our data, they accounted for 61% of total comments! These contributors also comment more frequently – 6.5 times more frequently than anonymous commenters and 4.7 times more frequently than commenters using a real name (via Facebook). *Disqus is the largest platform for online commenting communities, with over 600MM monthly unique visitors across more than 1MM websites. DISQUS