Every online community or social networks has lurkers- people who read messages but never post, who join groups but never participate. This is a common aspect of online life. I too am a lurker on many occasions online. I read, I think about what has been posted and on many occasions, I compose responses either in my head or on the screen, but never push the send button. There are many reasons for this behavior – in some cases, the idea of responding is too challenging – maybe my ideas aren’t good enough or my point of view isn’t salient enough for prime time? Perhaps, as a senior professional, a CEO, I feel the need to refrain from exposing what I *don’t* know, and therefore don’t participate (which I suspect is a common condition in professional networks). Other times, the pure logistics of the day prevent participation – a phone call or interruption prevents me from completing the task of posting.
The role of the lurker has often been examined in research about online communities- but it has mainly been to quantify the numbers of lurkers but not to explore their value. I believe they are an often overlooked style of member. One of my first publications in 1995 (!) was “Active Readers–What Benefits Do They Gain from an Educational Telecommunications Network?” where my colleague Gloria Jacobs and I studied what lurkers – or what we preferred to call Active Readers – did offline with the information and ideas they found online. We specifically focused on those elusive community members who visited the community frequently, spent time regularly on the community but were silent members.
Much to our surprise, we found that the Active Readers are a vibrant and engaged group of community members. They often took the concepts they read online and brought them into their professional lives – in real life. They shared information in meetings, talked about what they learned and even referred people to join the network or community even though their participation was never traceable online. Active Readers often considered themselves a part of the online fabric of the group and were often more engaged than those who posted or participated on occasion. They frequently brought value to the community and helped considerably in extending its reach.
As the rush is on to assign ROI to the professional communities so many companies have created, it is important to consider these people when factoring the benefits and reach of the communities. Current social media tools can’t even begin to track or trace impact of the Active Reader when capturing the data about the members at large. Therefore, I believe it is important to reach out to the Active Readers to find out about their participation experiences, include them in redesign efforts, find out what their needs are – accommodate them as much as those who are visible. In other words, value them and treat them as an important part of your membership base.
Fifteen years after my first exploration of this topic, I am pleased to see a resurgence of interest in this group – the lurker, the silent member, the Active Reader because they matter. A fellow community builder just launched a new blog called Lurkers Anonymous that will be dedicated to exploring the topic in depth and worth a read, even if you don’t comment!
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My first community fell apart in 1999 because of the lurker issue. I am writing a book of my online experiences for Kindle and other online reading devices.
Interestingly enough, since I’m commenting on my dear friend’s, and queen of B2B’s blog, the B2B communities didn’t move me to write about them like the B2C communities did.
It was getting to know the secrets of the members’ lives that moved my heart. You can see our creative writing collection here.
We wrote this at the time when The Well was the most famous entity in the online community world. I think we were just as good as they were.
The online world has changed. B2B people have realized the value of communities and have found their business plans, thanks in no small part to Vanessa.
The B2C members who were 7 in 1999 are now 17, buying merchandise, and joining communities with 151 million members. An automated moderation software industry is burgeoning to deal with the dangers that have developed in those spaces.
But back to V’s point: lurkers. Here is The Story of Socks.
You will see how the lurker issue destroyed a beautiful work of collective art. I suppose something had to destroy it because the world of privacy protection linked to commercialism, and the massive growth in B2C community membership would not make our Socks community possible today.
But like the last line of the movie Last of the Mohicans, “Once, we were here.”
Excellent post, Vanessa. It’s too easy to dismiss the “silent majority” in our communities, simply because they don’t show up on the radar. Active Readers (love that term!) are being influenced, and that translates into tangible actions and benefits.
Thank you Lou for your comment! It is really remarkable how important and overlooked those that choose not to participate visibly are to a community. But, by the same token, thanks for being an active poster 🙂