Social and economic incentives in google answers

Abstract. What are the antecedents, inhibitors and catalysts to providing information and participating in mixed fee-based and free online contexts? This paper is a work in progress on the participation of about 500 “Researchers ” in the Google Answers online service. We describe the behaviour of participants in this system over a 29 month period. Even though this is a fee-based environment, and answers are “worth ” over $20 (including tips) on average, labor economics of response to price and tip alone do not paint the full picture. Non-monetary incentives, such as “star ” ratings from recipients and feedback in the form of comments account for some of the variance in participation. Descriptive and correlational findings are based on many thousands of answers. We thus corroborate some of the theories of hybrid explanation presented to date mostly in laboratory settings. The participation of experts in Google answers is associated with a hybrid of material (economic) and social motivators. This is an initial report from a project about participation in the creation of content in open, internet systems. The broader context of this project includes data from both the formation of a Wiki-based textbook effort that involves several hundred coauthors, as well as the fee-based system studied here: Google Answers. In bot