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Lurkers thrive when posters are unaware of their presence, they feel “safer” when they can just view posts without feel

Delta Milayo Ndou Digitaldialogue
There are two classifications of online conduct that have been the subject of scholarly research in recent years and my interest is in the category of online users that are referred to as “lurkers”.

Lurkers are the “silent majority” on online platforms, the people on Facebook who read your posts but don’t engage with them or who will go through your Twitter timeline but don’t respond or participate.

You don’t even know what they know until you meet up with someone who’ll ask you about something you shared on Facebook, “congrats on your new job/baby/car/home” and you ask, “how did you know?” and they’ll say “I saw it on your Facebook” but then you don’t remember “seeing” them on Facebook i.e seeing any recent posts or activity that indicates their presence.

Such people “lurk” online.

They log on, peruse through your posts and don’t leave a trace to show they were ever there — they will log off quietly without clicking “like” or commenting on anything or participating in anyway.

And there’s nothing inherently wrong with lurking online — what matters is the motive behind the lurking.

Are you spying with malicious intent or are you just interested in what’s going on with your actual or virtual “friends”?

There are lurkers and then there are “posters” online. The “posters” are those people who are very active online and are always participating and often generate a huge following from other users.

Who knows what — about you?

The posters are those users who are comfortable with self-disclosure and often “over-share” in ways that seemingly transgress social cues or breach moral (and even professional) codes of discretion.

If a semi-complete stranger or someone you’re not really close to can describe in graphic detail the layout of your home based on the avalanche of selfies and other pictures you take at home and post online — then you need to reflect more on what you are sharing.

It may seem minor but every picture of your home that you share online can be used to build a profile of the layout of your house. The next time you post about going off on holiday, be sure that few people are familiar with the exact dimensions of your living room and the size of your monstrous flat screen TV.

It’s really a cause for concern if strangers know the colour of all your curtains/carpets, know the school your kid goes to and the grade she/he is in and the name of the teacher and the place you work and where you bank and the kind of phone you use and the type of car you drive (even have an idea of the number plate) and if they know what type of soap you use (bathroom selfies).

Isn’t this far too much information for random people to have and know about you? What makes it worse still, is that you don’t even know who knows what and how much they know because people lurk online, they observe and they log off and you won’t know they passed by your virtual space.

I remember an outraged tweet from a disgruntled employee who was complaining about how the executives at his company had gone off on some fancy “team building” retreat whilst claiming it was a strategy meeting.

The employee had stumbled upon pictures and selfies of a group sunset cruise posted by one of the executives who had captioned the occasion as “taking a break and having some fun”.

So there were all those executives, in shorts and shades, sipping on expensive drinks and relaxing whilst uncertainty about pay day was wrecking havoc with workers’ morale.

My point is, it took one executive’s lack of social media discretion to blow the cover of the rest, who were surreptitiously enjoying their good fortune undercover.

Lack of discretion abounds on social media and sometimes if you are married or related to a compulsive poster — your family’s business will frequently become public knowledge.

Why lurkers lurk

There are legitimate reasons why people who lurk do so.

Some derive gratification from simply reading and browsing through social networking sites without feeling the need to post anything or react to the posts of others. Others lurk because it is a way of remaining anonymous or protecting their private thoughts from other users who might harass them for thinking or feeling differently about issues.

It just seems safer and less trouble to say nothing and just “watch”.

Apart from anxiety about how others will respond to their viewpoints, some lurkers are just shy individuals who don’t want to draw attention to themselves by posting views that might be misconstrued, challenged or scrutinised.

In trying to discourage lurking and encourage participation, platforms such as Facebook have created mechanisms of ensuring that participants are aware who has seen their chats.

Basically, the seen-function embedded in Facebook chats reveals who has seen the posted message and puts pressure on would-be lurkers to participate in the discussion because it reveals their presence in the chat group.

Lurkers thrive when posters are unaware of their presence, they feel “safer” when they can just view posts without feeling compelled to participate.

In some social networking groups or online forums, the lurking is coincidental.

When other users have already exhausted a subject or raised the points you would have raised — you default to lurking so you just read, absorb and leave without posting anything yourself. Sometimes lurking is just a sign of disinterest — some people don’t care enough about the issue or aren’t as invested in the conversation so they have no intention of posting anything.

They just have no commitment and nothing to offer to the discussions they encounter online.

If it’s a chat forum or a Facebook group, some new members may start of as lurkers because they are still learning about the group or are unsure about how to post and maybe they have noticed that new members are treated badly so they shy away from posting anything.

For many people, lurking is linked to concerns around privacy and security.

You just never know what people will do with the information you share online.

If you are always accepting random friendship requests on Facebook, you are likely to end up with more strangers than actual friends following your digital footprint online.

Take advantage of the privacy settings that social media platforms have to filter the audience that sees and views your posts.

Keep yourself safe and if you are a compulsive poster — try to not be a security risk for your family and friends by constantly “leaking” privileged information or over-sharing seemingly mundane information that cumulatively reveals sensitive personal details.

• Delta is Head of Digital Services at Zimpapers and a PhD scholar researching on digital media, disruptive technologies and journalistic practice. Follow her on Twitter: @deltandou