Nice study quoted by WebAnalyticsbook on User Generated Content on How companies can make the most of user-generated content by McKinsey.
What it tells me is that adoption numbers for User Generated Content start small, and it's better to think small, first. Get a couple of people involved who are really engaged about generating content and that will spread, if you let it (or maybe, even if you don't).
If we look at Second Life, for example, there are small numbers of avatars that visit any island, relative to what most Websites get, especially if it's a Corporate Island. On the other hand, the metrics used to determine engagement can't be broken down to numbers of "engaged" visitors as much as quality of engagement - because the numbers will be small, to begin with.
But as time goes on, engagement, be it in a Virtual World, or on a Website will expand.
According to Sebastian over at WebAnalyticsBook:
Findings of the study were:
1. The contributions of a small percentage of website members get engaged with the site and produce content.
2. Over time, participation rates throughout the user group increase. In 2004, for example, 90 percent of the contributions to Wikipedia came from just 2 percent of its users; by 2006, the top 2.5 percent of them were responsible for only 60 percent of all new content.
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