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.
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 79 inbound references to lurker, and connects out to imageboard, Internet forum and social norm.
Vinony files it under 1980s neologisms and Internet culture.
Vinony links it to 20 Wikipedia language editions.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- Internet slang
Show 1 more fact
- does not have part
- post
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~19 min read
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.