lurker
Sign in to saveIn Internet culture, a lurker is typically a member of an online community who observes, but does not participate by posting or commenting. The exact definition depends on context. Lurkers make up a large proportion of all users in online communities. Lurking allows users to learn the conventions of an online community before they participate, improving their socialization when they eventually "de-lurk". However, a lack of social contact while lurking sometimes causes loneliness or apathy among lurkers.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- Internet slang
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- does not have part
- post
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
19 sectionsContents
- History
- Rationale
- Potential benefits
- Lurker benefits
- Learning community social norms
- Benefits for others
- Potential costs
- Lurker costs
- Costs for others
- Free-riding
- Community factors
- De-lurking
- De-lurking and community acceptance
- Lurking to participation
- Methods used to study lurkers
- See also
- Notes
- Further reading
- External links
In Internet culture, a lurker is typically a member of an online community who observes, but does not participate by posting or commenting. The exact definition depends on context. Lurkers make up a large proportion of all users in online communities. Lurking allows users to learn the conventions of an online community before they participate, improving their socialization when they eventually "de-lurk". However, a lack of social contact while lurking sometimes causes loneliness or apathy among lurkers.
Lurkers are referred to using many names, including browsers, read-only participants, non-public participants, legitimate peripheral participants, vicarious learners, or sleepers.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “lurker” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.