I think a lot of people feel the same to be honest. Particularly on days when you might be feeling a bit delicate anyway, the thought of saying something wrong or somehow offending someone is more than you can deal with.
Often I don’t comment because someone else already expressed my thoughts, or I don’t know what to say. Also I find social media overwhelming but I like to see what other people have done with knitting or crochet projects or other craft ideas.
I lurk a lot myself, and engagement is quite limited on my part, as you said, something I am working on. As an introvert, I always tend to stay in the background.
Well, you have just described my social media engagement to a Tee!
When I scroll through content I don’t necessarily want to engage simply to engage. I believe unless I’m going to advance the conversation, any contribution I make is extraneous fluff that fogs the real point of the idea on the table.
In a public gathering, a group of people might be talking about a particular topic and a lively discussion might be going on. Am I going to speak up to say something not necessarily germane just to say it? Am I going to repeat something that has already happened stated? Or am I going to listen, glean new information I can use in the next conversation and perhaps by standing with the speaker or topic show my support. Unless I disagree with the idea do I really need to say anything just to make a sound. If I do disagree, is it appropriate to say so. Then again, if I have listened to the conversation and find I have little interest in what is being said, I can move on.
My point is, engagement doesn’t have to be active to be valid. I also think, as the consultant pointed out, lurking isn’t wasting to time of the content provider. How do I know I want to invest myself in something if I don’t check it out? I may want to be involved in the site content but for any of a number of reasons not in a position to participate. Pointedly, on a site such as this where ideas and products are sold, I may want to keep my toe in the water but can’t afford to purchase now. But in the future I may have the money to buy exactly what I want and even more. In the real world that has been the case for me.
Don’t dismiss lurkers. We can be friends with the power to be *good* friends when it matters to both of us.
Lurking on the internet is like reading an old fashioned paper newspaper, and maybe discussing the articles over coffee, but never sending a letter to the editor, isn’t it?
You never know when a seed will sprout. I used to go to lovely houses in France and drop my card through their doors, writing by hand on the reverse that if they were ever thinking of selling, please contact me. Very few came back to me, however one lady kept the card and two years later, contacted me. I had 5 very large sales from that, and got to know her and her family and spent many lovely lunches together.
I love the idea of little seeds waiting to sprout. We can just go along sharing our joys and spreading our little seeds, knowing that some will germinate and some won't. And that's fine
I completely agree with you. When I think about the way I use social media, I realise that lurkers aren't a bad thing. I do a lot of lurking, and like you said I save things, share with friends, and even make purchases from accounts that I don't interact with.
I read a post recently about how many people would never dream of sharing an IG post via DM to a friend but will share a screenshot. That really made me think - I know I definitely take a lot of screenshots and it's something that metrics just don't show us
As a mom on a budget, of course I don’t buy a new product the moment I see it online! But if a content creator is a kindred spirit, I may stay and think about it and eventually start buying. Sometimes it takes years. 😅 I hear I am described as a “long-tail conversion.”
When I was studying online communities (2004ish) I learned the term ‘legitimate peripheral participants’. It’s a kinder way of saying lurkers. We regarded them as audience who might someday take the leap if gently encouraged. They might also be potential customers as I am not convinced there is a direct correlation between engagement and purchasing.
I saw this discussion on Threads where I sometimes lurk. Why am I a lurker? Well, I was very active on Twitter until the end of 2022 but I had two really nasty trolling incidents which made me quite unwell, so I decided to step away. I very rarely post now. There are many reasons why people lurk; and as you say, we have no idea why. But I always enjoy what you write.
Thank you and I totally understand what you are saying. I activated deleted a whole twitter account and started again back in the day, after a horrible incident. That definitely affected the way I chose to interact after that.
Such a great post Louise. Sometimes I lurk and sometimes I enjoy being part of the conversation. Mostly if I don’t, it’s because I don’t always have the word, and sometimes because I don’t have the time. I just downloaded threads yesterday after not bothering for the longest time, but I’m now not sure why and if I will join in over there. I feel pretty jaded by every platform except for Substack - it just feels different here somehow. I’ve got no motives here other then to enjoy sharing what I love, enjoy seeing other people’s work and perhaps also slowly grow 🙂
As a marketer and lurker I feel I can contribute here. We digital marketers are obsessed with results. We have to be. So if we can’t track it or show how ABC led to XYZ, then we’re going to call it quits and throw our time into something else that we can quantify as success. Hence, all the “grow your audience” gurus tell you to optimize and maximize and drive engagement because that’s the only way to make “informed decisions.” It’s a business-ification of your hobby, frankly. And it only starts to make sense if you define success in business terms.
So if your success is defined as “make something beautiful” or “don’t suck the joy out of things by making it a business” then yeah… it’s doesn’t make sense. It’s awful, in fact, and lurkers are very valuable.
Also: no one interacts and becomes a “rabid audience member” right away! Everyone hovers for a while before they land! Nuture those people!!!
I'm an author and the book marketing experts say that Instagram doesn't sell books. But I disagree. I often buy books I've seen on there. However, only occasionally do I comment to tell the poster I've done so. Often it's someone I don't see on my stream much. So the question, "How do you know?" is an excellent one. Because I think it's nearly impossible to tell.
I would absolutely agree with that. I have bought books in the past that I've seen shared on Instagram - or other social media platforms. Sometimes I can't even remember where I saw it originally, but it sparked my interest and I went on to buy it at a later date.
I read posts and sometimes comment. I often feel it has all been said and there is not anything I can add. I do click the like and believe that is adding to the conversation. I am an introvert and tend to be more of a wallflower.
I've always been more comfortable lurking generally. Sometimes I make comments, but I rarely ever like posts. To me following someone and reading their posts/watching their videos makes up most of my engagement.
Regarding saving things for later: I absolutely do that as well! When you posted your birch cowl pattern, I immediately saved it for later!
I quite often lurk (yes I do!) but on Instagram particularly I feel really odd about not liking posts. It’s almost as if I’m being rude to the people who have decided to share a snippet of their lives with me, even though I know that’s weird!
Not plucked up the courage to join Threads yet, was so fed up with Twitter and deactivated my account as soon it was evident that horrible man was going to buy it.
I definitely have days when I'm happy to lurk too. I think we all naturally have quiet periods and that's absolutely fine. I just saw you pop up on Threads too, hope to chat to you there soon xx
I lurk, generally, not commenting doesn’t mean not engaging, more likely means I don’t know what to say.
I think a lot of people feel the same to be honest. Particularly on days when you might be feeling a bit delicate anyway, the thought of saying something wrong or somehow offending someone is more than you can deal with.
Often I don’t comment because someone else already expressed my thoughts, or I don’t know what to say. Also I find social media overwhelming but I like to see what other people have done with knitting or crochet projects or other craft ideas.
Exactly this, especially when there are already a lot of comments it's easy to think that we have nothing else to add.
I lurk a lot myself, and engagement is quite limited on my part, as you said, something I am working on. As an introvert, I always tend to stay in the background.
I definitely go through chatty days and not so chatty days
Well, you have just described my social media engagement to a Tee!
When I scroll through content I don’t necessarily want to engage simply to engage. I believe unless I’m going to advance the conversation, any contribution I make is extraneous fluff that fogs the real point of the idea on the table.
In a public gathering, a group of people might be talking about a particular topic and a lively discussion might be going on. Am I going to speak up to say something not necessarily germane just to say it? Am I going to repeat something that has already happened stated? Or am I going to listen, glean new information I can use in the next conversation and perhaps by standing with the speaker or topic show my support. Unless I disagree with the idea do I really need to say anything just to make a sound. If I do disagree, is it appropriate to say so. Then again, if I have listened to the conversation and find I have little interest in what is being said, I can move on.
My point is, engagement doesn’t have to be active to be valid. I also think, as the consultant pointed out, lurking isn’t wasting to time of the content provider. How do I know I want to invest myself in something if I don’t check it out? I may want to be involved in the site content but for any of a number of reasons not in a position to participate. Pointedly, on a site such as this where ideas and products are sold, I may want to keep my toe in the water but can’t afford to purchase now. But in the future I may have the money to buy exactly what I want and even more. In the real world that has been the case for me.
Don’t dismiss lurkers. We can be friends with the power to be *good* friends when it matters to both of us.
Lurking on the internet is like reading an old fashioned paper newspaper, and maybe discussing the articles over coffee, but never sending a letter to the editor, isn’t it?
I love the way you phrased that! 😊
You never know when a seed will sprout. I used to go to lovely houses in France and drop my card through their doors, writing by hand on the reverse that if they were ever thinking of selling, please contact me. Very few came back to me, however one lady kept the card and two years later, contacted me. I had 5 very large sales from that, and got to know her and her family and spent many lovely lunches together.
I love the idea of little seeds waiting to sprout. We can just go along sharing our joys and spreading our little seeds, knowing that some will germinate and some won't. And that's fine
I completely agree with you. When I think about the way I use social media, I realise that lurkers aren't a bad thing. I do a lot of lurking, and like you said I save things, share with friends, and even make purchases from accounts that I don't interact with.
I read a post recently about how many people would never dream of sharing an IG post via DM to a friend but will share a screenshot. That really made me think - I know I definitely take a lot of screenshots and it's something that metrics just don't show us
That's interesting! I share posts by DM all the time, but I also take lots of screenshots.
As a mom on a budget, of course I don’t buy a new product the moment I see it online! But if a content creator is a kindred spirit, I may stay and think about it and eventually start buying. Sometimes it takes years. 😅 I hear I am described as a “long-tail conversion.”
When I was studying online communities (2004ish) I learned the term ‘legitimate peripheral participants’. It’s a kinder way of saying lurkers. We regarded them as audience who might someday take the leap if gently encouraged. They might also be potential customers as I am not convinced there is a direct correlation between engagement and purchasing.
I saw this discussion on Threads where I sometimes lurk. Why am I a lurker? Well, I was very active on Twitter until the end of 2022 but I had two really nasty trolling incidents which made me quite unwell, so I decided to step away. I very rarely post now. There are many reasons why people lurk; and as you say, we have no idea why. But I always enjoy what you write.
Thank you and I totally understand what you are saying. I activated deleted a whole twitter account and started again back in the day, after a horrible incident. That definitely affected the way I chose to interact after that.
Such a great post Louise. Sometimes I lurk and sometimes I enjoy being part of the conversation. Mostly if I don’t, it’s because I don’t always have the word, and sometimes because I don’t have the time. I just downloaded threads yesterday after not bothering for the longest time, but I’m now not sure why and if I will join in over there. I feel pretty jaded by every platform except for Substack - it just feels different here somehow. I’ve got no motives here other then to enjoy sharing what I love, enjoy seeing other people’s work and perhaps also slowly grow 🙂
As a marketer and lurker I feel I can contribute here. We digital marketers are obsessed with results. We have to be. So if we can’t track it or show how ABC led to XYZ, then we’re going to call it quits and throw our time into something else that we can quantify as success. Hence, all the “grow your audience” gurus tell you to optimize and maximize and drive engagement because that’s the only way to make “informed decisions.” It’s a business-ification of your hobby, frankly. And it only starts to make sense if you define success in business terms.
So if your success is defined as “make something beautiful” or “don’t suck the joy out of things by making it a business” then yeah… it’s doesn’t make sense. It’s awful, in fact, and lurkers are very valuable.
Also: no one interacts and becomes a “rabid audience member” right away! Everyone hovers for a while before they land! Nuture those people!!!
I'm an author and the book marketing experts say that Instagram doesn't sell books. But I disagree. I often buy books I've seen on there. However, only occasionally do I comment to tell the poster I've done so. Often it's someone I don't see on my stream much. So the question, "How do you know?" is an excellent one. Because I think it's nearly impossible to tell.
I would absolutely agree with that. I have bought books in the past that I've seen shared on Instagram - or other social media platforms. Sometimes I can't even remember where I saw it originally, but it sparked my interest and I went on to buy it at a later date.
That's it exactly. And the same thing applies to non-book items--like knitting patterns!
I read posts and sometimes comment. I often feel it has all been said and there is not anything I can add. I do click the like and believe that is adding to the conversation. I am an introvert and tend to be more of a wallflower.
I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes I just feel as though my comments will just be adding extra noise.
I've always been more comfortable lurking generally. Sometimes I make comments, but I rarely ever like posts. To me following someone and reading their posts/watching their videos makes up most of my engagement.
Regarding saving things for later: I absolutely do that as well! When you posted your birch cowl pattern, I immediately saved it for later!
I quite often lurk (yes I do!) but on Instagram particularly I feel really odd about not liking posts. It’s almost as if I’m being rude to the people who have decided to share a snippet of their lives with me, even though I know that’s weird!
Not plucked up the courage to join Threads yet, was so fed up with Twitter and deactivated my account as soon it was evident that horrible man was going to buy it.
I definitely have days when I'm happy to lurk too. I think we all naturally have quiet periods and that's absolutely fine. I just saw you pop up on Threads too, hope to chat to you there soon xx