I read an exciting piece of research today (OK, I have the flu and could not really do anything but read - I do have a life, sort of). Paul Dwyer, in an MSI Paper titled "Measuring the Value of Word-of-Mouth and its Impact in Consumer Communities" [MSI 2006] demonstrates that 'expert power' is the key value driver for community growth and longevity. With little concern for who adds the expert content. Mavens or Salespeople talking rubbish do not help communities grow or persist. They possibly offer little value to the brand owner in product-oriented online communities. Unless they are experts in this particular subject of course, in which case they are perfect. It is however, more likely that mild-mannered contributors who know their stuff are the real super-heroes in your online phone-booths. To quote Mr Dwyer; "...expert power is the primary attraction between members. Content of high value to the community attracts attention with little reference to who originated the content." Looking at 10 product oriented groups on Yahoo, he tested the relative importance of centrality versus prestige for network nodes (people). High value content builds prestige for individuals (measured by the number of inbound comments and replies generated, similar to Google's PageRank). This is independent of how central a person (well connected) is to the network. And, "High value content in the knowledge network explains 10% of social network growth." We need to look for our most knowledgeable  customers and help them be heard.