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10/14/2009

About Lurkers

Yesterday was "Love Our Lurkers" day; an annual event that I believe was initiated by Bonnie at My Bottom Smarts...

I didn't get the memo. By the time I noticed what was happening, it was well into the late part of the day, and it didn't seem to me like there was much point in jumping in after all everyone else had left the party. I looked around a bit, reading all the clever and creative invitations issued to the ubiquitous lurkers -- and found I had not a single thing to say about the whole business.

I have, however, been pondering those lurkers and the social implications of lurking. As with so many other things that I wonder about, I turned to Google (what did we do before Google?) to see if I could get some sort of workable definition of the term. There I found that lurkers are people who read, but do not participate in online communities, such as forums, discussion groups, blogs, and wikis. The one per cent rule-of-thumb suggests about one per cent of people contribute new content to an online community, another nine percent comment, and the rest lurk. ...

If something like 90% of all those who read within any given web community do not otherwise participate, there must be some reason (or perhaps reasons) why that occurs. Why do people read, often regularly, and yet never participate? Maybe...

  • Maybe they feel incomptent to participate; intimidated by a perceived level of expertise or intellect beyond what they believe they possess.
  • Maybe they are simply passive observers who read blogs in the same way they might watch a sitcom on television.
  • Maybe they are feeling new and uncertain and are waiting to feel "experienced" enough to join in the conversation.
  • Maybe they worry about establishing an online identity that could possibly be traced or tracked -- a legitimate concern for privacy risks.
  • Maybe they are simply shy and introverted.
  • Maybe they feel they have nothing valuable or helpful to add to the conversation.
  • Maybe they feel pressures related to time or personal energy and so limit their participation to a minimum.
  • Maybe they are simply voyeuristic and not interested in "creating a connection."

There are likely a dozen other possibilities that I haven't thought of. That list though, does cause me to consider the potential for the annual Love our Lurkers event to accomplish what it advertises as its purpose. As I have watched over the years, it seems clear that the pervasive invitations on this day result in very few actual delurks. Does our cajoling, entreating, insisting come across as welcoming and friendly? Do we manage to actually speak to all those anonymous lurkers in a language that reaches out to them? Or is it possible that our annual round robin of visiting here and there and leaving comments for each other, misses the mark altogether? Perhaps as we connect with each other we draw an even more intimidating picture of our very tight-knit community -- and make it harder for our lurkers to decide to risk joining in? I just don't know...

I don't actually spend much time or energy thinking about my lurkers. I know they are there. Every now and then, one of them decides to jump in and take part. Any and all of them are always welcome to do just that -- on any day of the year. As for that other, much larger mass of folks. They come to visit here for reasons of their own, and they take away whatever it is that they find of value (whether wisdom or entertainment or pure titillation). We share this space without ever interacting with one another. And, to tell the truth? If every lurker chose to suddenly open up and let loose with a barrage of comments, I'd be completely overwhelmed. I guess I like my conversational circle small enough to keep track of.

swan

6 comments:

  1. *smiles* God I love how you think. You said so much of what I felt unconsciously about the whole thing this year. I hadn't realized that I'd been drawing similar conclusions about lurking...

    And I was thinking about those sites that get posted in the Times and Newsweek for their traffic and popularity. They either go commentless, have a private community of commenters or else they don't ever respond to the thousands of comments they get on their posts. They couldn't possibly.

    I think that if my blog ever got that popular I'd feel overwhelmed also. I like my small blog and my very sweet group of folks who have made a sense of heart community with me.

    I appreciate the knowledge that they are out there. I can see their numbers each day and only see a small fraction of them writing to me.

    Its enough to know that they consistently read and must find value in my writing.

    Which is not going to be happening for a long while now...I'm in need of a hiatus from writing about sex. I can't seem to do it in a manner that offers enough privacy to my current partner and I'm fed up with the sense that my content isn't fresh right now either.

    I need to refocus myself I guess....so lurkers won't matter any more to me anyway since I'll be writing to a smaller group of folks interested in spirituality...the ratio of lurkers is far different with spirituality writing. The percentages look more like half commenting instead of such a small percentage commenting. They are just as loyal too. *smiles*

    Blessings to you all...and by the way, to T...I was glad to read on my Reader that your Mom is showing improvements. I didnt' get to comment about it whilst playing catch up from my time away...but I had a big smile over that one. Congratulations!!

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  2. Anonymous11:31 PM

    I thought what you wrote was well said.

    I'm a lurker. I like to stop by and read what you are doing...what you are up to...but I do not typically leave a comment. I do not necessarily see that I have anything particularly important to add to what you have written.

    I feel that the Love your lurkers is kind of a BS passive aggressive act. Is it not enough that people come to read you? Must we also leave our signature? Do any of the LOL-ers actually give a crap that I (as in ME, personally) happened by?

    Or is it some kind of vanity sop?

    I think the bottom line is this: do you blog because you have things to express or are you a wordsmith/performance artist for the world and therefore, need applause in the form of comments?

    I do mean 'you' in the ubiquitous sense, of course.

    And as I do not normally spew in this manner, I think for this time, I will use the 'anonymous' moniker.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Swan, you expressed this so well. It makes me think back to why I lurked, too new, not competant, worried about being traced. And why I don't comment sometimes when I feel like I have something to say, rushed for time. And how I sometimes feel like I would like to say something but strive for something more creative or funny or profound, and in failing to find those things, I delete my comments unposted.

    I also don't spend much of my time thinking about lurkers, though I do confess to playing (a bit) to the crowd who identify themselves.

    Interesting point of view from your anonymous lurker too.

    sin

    ReplyDelete
  4. swan - I'm sorry you were left out. I believe it was purely accidental, because of course we were aware of your email addy. And I really did get lots of comments from true lurkers, which I very much enjoyed.

    Hugs,
    Hermione

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi swan,

    I believe I sent invitations to all three of you, but I can't promise they didn't land in spam purgatory. You were certainly on the list. In any case, I can assure you that no snub was intended.

    For me, LOL Day is about community. Granted, most of the comments came from established bloggers or regular commenters. But there were dozens of de-lurks as well. Old friendships were renewed and new ones were forged.

    I have no desire to coerce anyone or make them feel intimidated. I answered every delurk on my blog with a welcoming response.

    Over the past four years, I've made lots of new friends through LOL Day. Some have become regulars and several now have successful blogs of their own.

    I don't ask for your agreement, but I hope you'll understand why I choose to invest time and effort in this event.

    With warm regards,
    Bonnie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hermione and Bonnie --
    Please do not feel that you need to explain or apologize. None of us here felt any sort of "snub" or sense of being left out. It is entirely likely that we received emails and deleted them without looking at them, or had them go into the great bit bucket of the spam folders...

    I do not doubt that LOL is an event that many enjoy, and I am certain that the intent is good. I would not seek to dissuade anyone who chooses to do so from participating in it at whatever level it suits them to do so. Clearly many find it to be fun and fulfilling.

    For me, the whole proceeding is disquieting, and I have come away after participating in previous years feeling uneasy in a way that I could not fully describe. The fact that I didn't "get the word" this year was fortuitous from my perspective. It gave me pause to think about what I really felt about taking part. It allowed me to consider those who lurk, and I am quite sure that, while there are some who delurk on this day, there are many, many others left feeling even more "outside" than they might otherwise.

    The fact is that we all do what we do in different ways. It is what makes our circle an interesting and lively place to spend time. To all those who like LOL Day, I say, "more power to you." For myself, I think it will fall into the same category as memes. I don't do those either.

    All the best,
    swan

    ReplyDelete

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