LebGeeks

mir

Member

Why People Lurk ?

In Internet culture, a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chatroom, file sharing,blogs or other interactive system, but does not participates.

I have been meaning to do some search on the topic  to understand why ppl lurk.. the psycology behind lurking blablabla

so i thought of asking you if anyone has read any interesting articles on the subject ( if there is any )
or just to ask your personal thoughts !

Thanks in advance :)

Last edited by mir (November 11 2008)

mir

Member

Re: Why People Lurk ?

well, an important fact is that most ppl in online communities and DL are Lurkers

It is important to try to understand this at least in order to build stuff that is optimized for lurkers or at least to try to de-lurk them and get a more active community

oh and a lurker is not some lower form of internet users  ... not that i am saying anything bad about them
without lurkers the world would be chaos

and a general question.. do u guys lurk in other communities.. which ones if i may ask ?

Last edited by mir (November 13 2008)

karim

Member

Re: Why People Lurk ?

@mir, there are lurkers everywhere...

you average dinner table with some friends... imagine a gathering, 10 ppl on the table. you are going to have 2 persons having a side discussion, 3-4 ppl having an active discussion on some interesting subject, are the rest will just sit and listen to what other ppl have to say. adding nothing to the conversation...

samer

Admin

Re: Why People Lurk ?

I lurk at reddit mostly, and on the Apple section of digg. :rolleyes:

mir

Member

Re: Why People Lurk ?

hmm... karim... interesting are the similarities  thanks for the example
and i guess just in some dinners ppl may lurk.. and in others those same ppl may be the active members.. depending on topic and mood :)

here is an interesting read
http://www.migh.info/lbg/Lurkers.pdf

i am checking the inside references for leads :)

rolf

Member

Re: Why People Lurk ?

Lurkers seem to be more respectable then people who post profusely to say nothing...