the lurker life
One of the wonderings that arose for me this week came from Dr. Dennen's topic in our weekly discussion on communities and networks - how would you define and differentiate them. In my thinking of what a community was, I thought about the role of the person partaking in a community, etc. That led me to think about the role of a lurker in online communities. I have considered myself a lurker for the past couple of years to remain private, but also because I sometimes don't have the confidence to post or engage in conversations. However, I consider myself a part of "online communities" where I am just absorbing the knowledge shared by others. So I wonder...can lurkers be considered part of the community? Probably not, depending on the expectations set by a specific online community.
Anyways, I was reminded of an article I skimmed some time ago about the negative consequences that lurking may have. I am trying to remember the article, but it was similar to this article by Fontenot (2019). The article discusses the detrimental effects lurking can have on someone's mental health.
Below, in my references, are two studies on lurking that I found interesting. It's interesting to note that "lurking" and/or being a "lurker" was something my friends and I always joked about since we began using social media in our teenage years...but there is actual research on it. The second article is fascinating because it makes me think about what lurkers would be in offline communities. According to the article, it would be more so of "social eavesdropping."
Have you ever lurked in an online community? Why? What would you consider "lurking" in the offline community?
References
Bighash, L., Alexander, K. S., Hagen, C. S., & Hollingshead, A. B. (2020). A Model of Social Eavesdropping in Communication Networks. International journal of communication [Online], 3704+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A632441957/AONE?u=tall85761&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=5f704594
Cranefield, Yoong, P., & Huff, S. (2015). Rethinking Lurking: Invisible Leading And Following In A Knowledge Transfer Ecosystem. Journal Of The Association For Information Systems, 16(4), 213–247. Https://Doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00394
Hello Nancy! I found your post really interesting. As a lurker myself, I also thought about the question you asked - Can we consider lurkers a part of the community? The answer could change depending on situations, but my general answer would be that lurkers are still part of the community because they have potentials to contribute to the community in any ways... Even though they don't actively contribute, they might like/dislike certain posts, which counts as a community member's perspective, or even they might change their mind and make a reply or make a post in the future.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to the article you share about the detrimental effects of lurking on one's mental health, I also want to share an article that I read before and really liked: https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12033
This review study synthesizes the previous literature on active vs. passive social media usage and suggests that passive usage provokes envy and social comparison. This article has changed my attitude toward social media usage. Although I still prefer lurking (lol), at least I know how it would affect me and can manage my thoughts accordingly.
Hi! Thanks so much for sharing! I've definitely been a lurker for a long time in certain online social platforms. I don't feel it's had any negative effect on me.. but I use it for research purposes. I observe to learn and soak up knowledge. I watch the interactions and learn what others have to say. For example: I recently started gardening; I am nowhere near knowledgeable enough to contribute to that conversation, not even slightly. So, in that group, I lurk. I read the posts, the comments, the back and forth between others. I learn from their discussions and interactions. I don't feel like I should participate because I don't have the skills or knowledge about the subject to participate. But lurker is my way of learning, so that I can apply that knowledge I gain and eventually, I will become a contributor of the community. So, I am still a part of the community. I choose to look at is as, the current contributors are the elders of the community and I am the youth; as it is, children are meant to be seen and not heard - that's how the elders can pass down their wisdom and stories.
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