Engaging Neighbors: The Double-Edged Sword of Mobilization Messaging in Hyper-Local Online Forums.

Information technologies for local communities can augment the relationships among neighbors and reduce barriers for collective action, thus increasing social capital. However, the benefits arise only if enough residents are engaged with the technology. Based on a six-year dataset of messages among neighbors on 35 online discussion forums, we examined the relationship of different kinds of content shared on the forums and user engagement. We leveraged text analysis to automatically classify over 32,000 posts shared in these hyper-local forums. Our findings suggest that neighbors use the forums largely for social capital mobilization, requesting both active and passive actions. Nevertheless, a balance between these two kinds of content is crucial for attracting new users and retaining current ones in order to keep a thriving stream of content. These results advance the understanding of the role of content on sustainability and impact of hyper-local technologies.