Member engagement in sharing communities

Nowadays, the sharing economy has been a heated subject for public debate. This new development enables people to lend, swap, rent and barter products or services in a more convenient way. While property and mobility sharing are gaining more media coverage, other forms of sharing such as knowledge sharing remain less represented. Although the notion of sharing is not new, however unlike typical sharing behavior, today the sharing economy is significantly facilitated by digital technologies such as social media and mobile platforms. Thus, to formulate and engage online communities becomes an important instrument for a sharing platform to thrive. Given the prevalent use of social media in the sharing economy, online members’ motivation to participate remains one of the main barriers not only in knowledge sharing communities but also virtual communities in general. Hence, this thesis is devoted to studying the strategies of Dutch knowledge sharing platforms using social media to engage community members, and to what extent do they differ their strategies towards active and less active members. The three building blocks of this thesis are the interpreted value of social media use, strategic engagement on social media, and tactical difference on member mobilization. Theoretical literature indicates that based on the functional features of social media, it is feasible for practitioners to use them as tools for member engagement. Thus, this thesis postis that if a sharing platform's social media communication speaks to people’s motivations of knowledge sharing behaviors, it is likely to stimulate participation in sharing initiatives. Through qualitative interviews with eleven practitioners across nine Dutch knowledge sharing platforms, this thesis shows that curating social media content, facilitating social relationships, and fulfilling individual needs are three main strategies deployed by practitioners. Moreover, this thesis concludes that among the interviewed platforms, there is no distinct tactical difference towards active and less active community members. Rather, it is the demographic groups, target audience on different social media channels, and the structure of a community that are likely to vary a sharing platform’s member engagement strategies on social media.