Editing Lurker (section)

==Potential benefits==

===Lurker benefits===
Lurking behavior provides some benefits to users. Mo and Coulson found that lurkers on an online support group for HIV/AIDS did not differ from posters in their levels of care, [[self-efficacy]], [[optimism]], [[Depression (mood)|depression]], and [[loneliness]].<ref name=mo10>{{cite journal |author=Mo, P. |author2=Coulson, N. | year = 2010 | title = Empowering processes in online support groups among people living with HIV/AIDS: A comparative analysis of 'lurkers' and 'posters' | journal = Computers in Human Behavior | volume = 26 | issue = 5 | pages = 1183–1193 | doi=10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.028| s2cid = 28839297 }}</ref> They also found that lurkers felt more energetic than posters.

In a study that addressed lurking in [[E-learning]], scholars found evidence that lurking is a helpful type of participation in online courses. Students said that the most common reasons they lurked before posting were to discover a message to reply to, to identify a model to adopt, to bypass providing a similar reply, and to acquire knowledge regarding the topic.<ref name=dennen08 /> Students in this study also expressed that they came back to read posts on online course discussion boards in order to check whether others had responded to their posts or to review a previous concept.

====Learning community social norms====
One reason lurkers lurk is the need to learn more about the group. In interviews, lurkers claim a lack of understanding of the community as a reason for not posting.<ref name=nonnecke99>{{cite journal |author1=Nonnecke, B. |author2=Preece, J. | year = 1999 | title = Shedding light on lurkers in online communities | journal = Ethnographic Studies in Real and Virtual Environments: Inhabited Information Spaces and Connected Communities | pages = 123–128}}</ref> Lurkers often take the time before posting to evaluate the group for how well it is a fit for them.<ref name=nonnecke00a /> Lurkers learn more about the individuals in the group, the dialogue styles, and the implicit [[Social norms|norms]] and explicit [[policy|policies]]. In the interviews, lurkers mentioned that this was their preferred method so that they could avoid making a mistake and being rejected by the group.
To determine if the group is a good fit and to learn more about the norms, lurkers will read most if not all of the posts.<ref name=nonnecke00a /><ref name=nonnecke99 /> By reading the posts, lurkers develop a better understanding about the topics being discussed and if this is a good fit for them. Lurkers will also examine email addresses and signatures with associated websites so get a better understanding of the other members of the group.

By taking these steps, lurkers gain more [[cultural capital]].<ref name=Soroka06>{{cite conference|author1=Soroka, V. |author2=Rafaeli, S. |date=May 2006|title=Invisible Participants: How Cultural Capital Relates to Lurking Behavior.|conference=International World Wide Web Conference WWW 2006}}</ref> Soroka and Raffaeli define cultural capital as "the knowledge that enables an individual to interpret various cultural codes." In other words, it is the knowledge of the norms of the community. They found that people that lurk longer before posting had greater levels of cultural capital. A lurker can gain cultural capital in a community just by spending a lot of time in it. A person that has more cultural capital will benefit more from the community.

===Benefits for others===

In their study on interactive mailing lists, Takahashi, Fujimoto, and Yamasaki demonstrated that "active lurkers", or individuals who spread content from an online group to individuals external to the online group, help spread beneficial information to surrounding communities.<ref name=takahashi03 >{{cite conference|author=Takahashi, M. |author2=Fujimoto, M. |author3=Yamasaki, N. |date=November 2003 |title=The active lurker: influence of an in-house online community on its outside environment.|conference=international ACM SIGGROUP conference on Supporting group work|pages=1–10}}</ref>

Lurkers can also develop stores of valuable knowledge as they lurk which may be helpful later should they decide to contribute. For example, users in open source software communities can quickly discover the answers to common problems, making them more likely to contribute answers later. If they have already had a question answered, they are even more likely to de-lurk and reciprocate. These behaviors form the backbone of open source technical support.<ref name=lakhani03>{{cite journal|title = How open source software works: Free user to user assistance | journal=Research Policy|year = 2003| volume = 32| issue=6|author=Lakhani, K. |author2=Von Hippel, E. | doi=10.1016/s0048-7333(02)00095-1| pages=923–943| hdl=1721.1/70028| hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Lurkers also help reduce the burden on communities. A person who may have a question for a community may be better served searching for the answer than forcing community members to expend effort to see and respond to their query. In the case of open source project communities, the vast majority of questions have already been asked and answered in the community, making any repeated questions wasted work.<ref name=lakhani03 />

Pragmatically, lurkers also provide revenue for communities as they access pages, generating advertising revenue.