Why? - Collaborative Web Search: Who, What, Where, When, and Why - page 65

Table 6.2: 408 survey respondents ( Morris et al. , 2010c ) described factors that motivated them
to answer questions posed by members of their online social networks. Understanding these
motivations might help in the design of incentive systems for collaborative search tools, or in
selecting appropriate situations for suggesting serendipitous collaboration opportunities among
friends or strangers.
Motivation

Percent Example Survey Responses

Altruism 37.0% - Just trying to be helpful.

- Being friendly.
- Social goodness.

Expertise 31.9% - If I'm an expert in the area.

- [It depends on] my knowledge of the subject that the question refers
to.

Properties of
question

15.4% - Interest in the topic.

- [If ] it is …time sensitive.
- Is it directed at me?

Nature of
relationship

13.7% - If I know and like the person.

- If I know the person well

Connect
socially

13.5% - Connect with others.

- Keeps my network alive.

Free time 12.3% - Boredom/procrastination.

- It's fun to answer.

Social
capital

10.5% - Favor marketplace.

- It creates social currency.
- I will get help when I need it myself.

Obligation 5.4% - A tit-for-tat.

- It's part of being in a community of trusted people.

Humor 3.7% - Thinking I might have a witty response.

Ego 3.4% - Being wanted.

- Looking good.
- Wish to seem knowledgeable.

view. By looking at what motivates people to ask and answer questions of online communities in
general, we can get an idea of the types of rewards that might encourage people to participate
fully in collaborative searches. Venues such as electronic bulletin boards, newsgroups, and question-
answering sites enable users to post questions targeted either at a particular community or to the
world at large. We will refer to the class of sites where users post questions to be answered by a set
of users whom they do not know personally as Q&A sites .