Relevance Metric: Supply/Scarcity (s)

Relevance Metric: Supply/Scarcity (s)

This metric applies fundamental microeconomic principles of supply and demand to the market for quotes. It acts as a counterweight or modifier to pure speaker influence (l), acknowledging that high availability (supply) can diminish the marginal value and equilibrium price, especially considering the unique characteristics of information goods where reproduction costs can be low (though verification adds cost).

Conceptual Definition

The s metric represents the scarcity of verified quotes from a particular source or about a specific niche topic within the YouSeddit platform and potentially the broader public domain. A higher s value indicates greater scarcity (lower supply/saturation), suggesting the quote is rarer and potentially more valuable from a supply-side perspective.

Potential Measurement Factors (Requires Definition)

Quantifying s could involve factors like:

• Volume of Existing Quotes (Speaker): The total number of verified quotes already available from the specific speaker within the YouSeddit system and potentially estimated from external sources. Higher volume leads to lower s.
• Volume of Existing Quotes (Topic): The total number of verified quotes available on the specific, narrow topic. High volume leads to lower s.
• Frequency of Speaker’s Public Statements: How often the speaker makes public statements or gives interviews. Frequent statements suggest lower scarcity (lower s).
• Exclusivity / Differentiation: Is the quote exclusive to the YouSeddit platform or widely disseminated? Higher exclusivity, a form of product differentiation or artificial scarcity, increases the s value.
• Time Since Last Quote: A longer time since the speaker was last quoted on the topic might increase perceived scarcity (s).

Role in Pricing Formula

In the Synthesized Pricing Formula, the normalized s value (representing scarcity) is weighted (w_S) to contribute positively to the overall price. A higher s (meaning greater scarcity/lower saturation) increases the price, reflecting the premium associated with rarer information. This directly incorporates the “Inverse Relevance Pricing” perspective by ensuring that readily available quotes (low s) are not overpriced solely due to speaker influence (l).

Challenges

• Defining Scope: Determining whether to measure scarcity only within YouSeddit or attempt to estimate broader public availability.
• Data Acquisition: Gathering reliable data on external quote availability is difficult.
• Topic Granularity: Defining topic boundaries for scarcity measurement can be ambiguous.

Next Step: Define the precise scope (internal vs. external) and develop methods for tracking quote volume per speaker and topic to calculate the s score.