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Bowling for Business: Lurk Alive

How to go from passive lurker to active online contributor

By Kathy Bowling
Monday, October 12, 2009

Passive Internet Lurker (Photo by Fotolia.)

Our house is such a cluttered mess; walking from the living room to the kitchen is like navigating landmines on the Mekong Delta. Between the dog toys, shoes, old homework papers and abandoned board games strewn across the floor, I'm lucky if I make it out of the front door without spraining an ankle.

I can relate to the mother from the comic strip, Family Circus. Whenever something spills or breaks, she asks the kids who is responsible. The answer is always the same, "Not me!" And, in the distance, a little gremlin named Not Me flees the scene. Apparently, he heads for my house, because anytime we ask our girls who left a bowl of cereal and congealed milk on the coffee table, they refer to him.

But, the actual reason for the mess is that my home is filled with passive consumers instead of active contributors. Our kids just don't consider it their responsibility to help with the running of our household. Many people on the Internet share our daughters' passive attitudes. Read, research, rinse and repeat. While this tactic might work for hobbyists, when it comes to business, you need to take an active approach.

According to Internet statistics' pundit Jakob Nielsen, the door for action is wide open. In his heavily-trafficked online Alertbox, Neilsen says, "In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action."

So, where do you fall? Are you a dynamic contributor or a passive lurker? Wikipedia defines an Internet Lurker as a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chat room, file sharing or other interactive system, but rarely, or never, participates actively.

In case you're still unsure of your status, here's a little quiz to help you figure it out.

Are You a Lurker?

• If you read blogs but never post comments, you might be a lurker.
• If you join chat rooms just to follow other people's conversations, you might be a lurker.
• If you sign up for newsgroups but never add to article threads, you might be a lurker.
• If you have no need for your keyboard while you're surfing the Net, you might be a lurker.
• If you didn't realize you are allowed to comment on blog posts, in chat rooms and in news groups, you might be a lurker.

If you see yourself in any of the above descriptions, the good news is there is hope. The verb to "de-lurk" also appears in Wikipedia. De-lurk is defined as taking initiative to start contributing actively to a community having been a lurker previously. (I'm not making this stuff up.)

So how can you turn the tide and de-lurk? Web 2.0 is all about conversation. Contributors add to the discussion by setting up and regularly posting to their own blogs. Critics respond to other people's blogs, adding comments to discussion threads on social networks, and taking part in online conversations.

Josh Bernoff, of Forrester Research, and one of the authors of groundswell, defines the groups as follows:

• 21% of online U.S. consumers are Creators
• 37% are Critics, (those who react to content created by others)
• 69% are Spectators.

My ad agency, Mountain Marketing Group, has discovered a similar phenomenon among our church and para-church clients. In many charitable organizations, 20% of the people do 80% of the work. So, when it comes to influencing decisions, who do you suppose has the most say? According to ICWM.net, the short answer is that the power belongs to the movers and the shakers.

Since so few people on the Internet create original content, consider the opportunity to shape the business or non-profit landscape if you have the courage to get off the bench. If you're game, here are some simple steps to take you from lurker/spectator to industry thought-leader.

1. Comment on this article thread. I'd be honored to be your first.
2. Do a search on Technorati for blog-posts that are relative to your areas of interest and expertise. Read and comment on any that strike a chord.
3. If you have not done so already, set up a free blog. For tips on how to create a blog, check out the Bowling for Business post, The Good, the Blog and the Ugly.
4. Once you're on the map, set up a free account that will help you check out Internet conversations in real time, so you can comment at will. One well-known site for this type of monitoring is FriendFeed. Another highly intuitive service is backtype, which creators describe as "a real-time conversational search to surface what reputable people are saying about topics and web pages that interest you."

Following these steps will establish your company or organization as a leader in the field. All you have to do is lurk alive.

Until next week, I'll be Bowling for Business.

This article was first published on Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 4:54 pm. This article has been viewed 525 times.

Kathy is the Chief Operating Officer at Mountain Marketing Group, a boutique advertising and public relations agency located in Lake Arrowhead, California. She has also worked as a staff member, public relations consultant and/or freelance writer for several non-profit organizations such as Azusa Pacific University, the City of Glendora, Foothill Presbyterian Hospital and St. Bernardine Medical Center.

Her writing has appeared in numerous regional and national publications such as A & U Magazine, Christianity Today, Woman's World Magazine, San Bernardino Sun, and Healthwise. Mountain Marketing Group clients include architects, builders, business developers, business consultants, church and para-church organizations, claims management corporations, contractors, financial advisors, real estate brokers, health care practitioners, health & beauty experts and more.

Kathy studied at Azusa Pacific University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, graduating with a BA in Communication Studies and a minor in Business Administration.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of RIMOFTHEWORLD.net. This column is copyrighted by Kathy Bowling.