What happens if we plot comments against posts? Will we see that increased comment volume is driven by more posts—that is, by more discussions taking place—or will we see that comment volume is largely uncorrelated with post volume (which we might expect if comment volume is driven largely by a few controversial posts)?
(click for large version)
The latter model seems to be operative here. The following stats seem consistent with it:
In the period from Jan 1, 2018 to Apr 11, 2018 (inclusive), a total of 6,846 comments were posted, across 531 posts.
The top 10 most-commented posts (i.e., less than 2% of all posts) accounted for 1,395 of the total comments, or just under 20% of the total comment volume.
67 posts (13% of all posts) received no comments whatsoever.
Another 268 posts (50% of all posts) received less than 10 comments.
Average number of comments posted per day (from Jan 9, 2018 through Jan 11, 2018) was 75.
which we might expect if comment volume is driven largely by a few controversial posts
Another explanation might be that comments are driven by traffic only, i.e. that some users are just bored and will comment on whatever posts they find. Case in point, I’m quite bored right now, and I’m posting a comment.
More data, because data is fun:
(click for large version)
What happens if we plot comments against posts? Will we see that increased comment volume is driven by more posts—that is, by more discussions taking place—or will we see that comment volume is largely uncorrelated with post volume (which we might expect if comment volume is driven largely by a few controversial posts)?
(click for large version)
The latter model seems to be operative here. The following stats seem consistent with it:
In the period from Jan 1, 2018 to Apr 11, 2018 (inclusive), a total of 6,846 comments were posted, across 531 posts.
The top 10 most-commented posts (i.e., less than 2% of all posts) accounted for 1,395 of the total comments, or just under 20% of the total comment volume.
67 posts (13% of all posts) received no comments whatsoever.
Another 268 posts (50% of all posts) received less than 10 comments.
Average number of comments posted per day (from Jan 9, 2018 through Jan 11, 2018) was 75.
Another explanation might be that comments are driven by traffic only, i.e. that some users are just bored and will comment on whatever posts they find. Case in point, I’m quite bored right now, and I’m posting a comment.