Delurking

What Does Delurking Mean?

Delurking is a type of social media behavior where a user breaks an "online silence" or habit of passive thread viewing to engage in a virtual conversation. The term implies that a user does not typically participate in social media or online social activities.

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Techopedia Explains Delurking

Delurking and its related term, lurking, indicate that social media and online forums make it easy for users to view ongoing conversations and activities without personal input. Many users develop a habit of commonly viewing social media threads or similar elements, like forums, without involvement or interaction. Users often delurk when an issue triggers a relevant feeling. Delurking also may be a component of market research or used for other types of analysis of online users and habits.

Participation distinctions between social media platform protocols is an important factor. On some blogs, proprietary forums or other Web spaces, administrators make it difficult to comment on threads or conversations. Users may encounter delays, or comments may require administrator approval. Also, posting may require that a user enter identifying information or even join a system.

In contrast, social media sites like Facebook do not present these difficulties, assuming that each user has an associated profile. This goes a long way toward opening user communication.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…