User Engagement Do you value lurkers?

[joelr]

We often focus on the most vocal members as "active members," but what about the silent ones, or "lurkers"? Even if they aren't actively participating, lurkers can still bring value by observing, absorbing information, and spreading word-of-mouth about our community.

• How do you think we can better support and engage lurkers without pushing them out of their comfort zones?
• What low-effort ways have you seen (or think would work) to encourage more participation from these quieter members?
• Should we even aim to move lurkers towards more active roles, or is their silent presence enough?

 

[Nomad]

I am not sure whether I have any lurkers on my forums or not, I have not paid much attention to the users who visit the forum but do not post. I believe they can also be an asset on your forum. Your forum not only needs activities but also visits. If you have 10 lurkers who visit ten threads, you can have 100 page views. If they do every day, you will have 3000 page views. We need to think about bigger picture. Not everyone can be interested on posting, but some people like to read and just hang around.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I do value lurkers.

I watch them. I try to determine what they are looking at when they lurk, how long they're looking at something, and what pain points they might be experiencing.

Then I try to create for them.

It's a great way to turn a lurker into a member or even into an active member.

 

[Shortie]

I value lurkers and I feel that is always a best practice when you are a community leader.

As a community leader you should not only be looking at what your active members are doing but also those who are lurking at taking in information but not interacting. You may not be able to find a tactic and find content to get all lurkers engaging but even if you get a few, it's a success.