First-Mover Advantage in a Social Q&A Community

Abstract

Aggregate answer ratings serve as a metric of collective intelligence in social Q&A communities. The patterns by which participants in a social Q&A community rate and recommend answers are analyzed through the lens of first-mover advantage, to address the question of whether the first answer posted has a ratings advantage over those subsequently submitted. As part of a long-term participant observation, ratings for answers submitted to the Answerbag social Q&A site were compared by order of submission and normalized for page views and answer quality. The results suggest that the first-submitted answer consistently accumulates roughly 17% more rating points than the second answer submitted, and that the rating points of each subsequent answer tend to decline. Social factors influencing rating activity and implications for interpreting future social Q&A data are discussed.