The Power & Pitfalls of Status in Social Networks: SCRUFF’s Blue Dot

Jason MarchantChief Product Officer

SCRUFF

Nike+

SCRUFF

…versus the rest

About SCRUFF

How it works

Constraints

Enter the blue dot…

Profound Engagement Increases

6.5x profile views4.2x Woofs3.4x inbound messages2.5x average daily visits2.2x average session length91% drop in grantee attrition

The Zeitgeist

Discontinuation

Lessons• Elevating advocate status can be a tremendously powerful

engagement driver• In a community setting, recognition that garners attention will be

welcomed—eagerly• Manual grant schemes are easy to implement but subject to

personal bias and don’t scale well• The path to recognition should be fair and at least somewhat

transparent. Opaque elevation requirements will lead to resentment and fairness criticism

• Keep your eyes open for unexpected effects as the community adapts to status differences

• Invest the extra effort to build your recognition system to last! The consequences of discontinuing a system that does not scale will undermine the very behavior you sought to encourage