We’ve been talking a lot about what it means to be an effective networked nonprofit [2] over at the Case Foundation. It’s a hot conversation that seems to be happening in a lot of places right now, not to mention it’s the topic of Beth Kanter and Allison Fine’s new book The Networked Nonprofit [3] which hits shelves everywhere today. While network builders sit on one side of the spectrum and help their organizations recognize the power of adopting new social habits, there’s another group of folks who can be found out there (“found” being a relative term). These are the social media “lurkers” – and it’s not just individuals who are lurking, organizations can fall into that category as well if they aren’t comfortable diving in and contributing to online conversations.
So, what makes a social media lurker, you ask? Here are a few questions to determine whether you, or your organization falls into that category:
- Did you set up a Twitter account months ago and then never return?
- Are you on Facebook but never update your status -- or comment on your friends’ posts?
- Are you on LinkedIn but you don’t engage with your network, you just accept invites?
- Are you reading this blog right now, but know you’ll never post a comment? (I hope not!)
Perhaps what makes the conversation even more interesting from a Social Citizens perspective is that there is this false assumption that the Millennial generation is comprised of great content contributors. While in fact, they are spending more and more time online, they are doing it more so to find information rather than contribute their own. Millennials, and even younger generations, are using sites like Facebook, MySpace, Google, and YouTube to find content, but, as a recent article on the website Millennial Marketing [4] says, “few make use of Twitter or maintain a blog….only half of 18-24-year-olds are what [a survey classifies] as ‘creators’. Few students make use of RSS feeds, wikispaces or other productivity enhancing tools.”
We can reasonably assume that these so-called lurkers (of any age or demographic) make up the largest percentage of the online population especially if you believe the 90-9-1 principle [5], which is that 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute some activity in the community (active lurkers), and 1% of users account for almost all the action.
Even if that’s the case, I’d argue that some communities like Twitter, Yelp, even TripAdvisor see a much higher percentage of their online audience participating and adding to the dialogue. In fact, it’s estimated that members of those online communities engage closer to the 30-40% mark and even if they aren’t contributing directly to the online forum, there is value in having them take what they learn and share them more broadly with the offline world. So, what techniques have worked for these online communities that might apply to nonprofits?
All of this has made me keen to explore how to help people and organizations make the transition from community consumers to active contributors. The examples below are taken from Jake Mckee on the 90-9-1 site he developed, and are as good as any I've seen.
- Make contributing easy for everyone. Design contribution tools that scale in complexity, giving power tools to power users, while easing usage for light users.
- Encourage editing over creating. Blank pages are scary. Create templates, rough examples that can be easily edited, content suggestions, and tons of examples that help eliminate the fear factor.
- Reward participants.People will give up their first born for a gold star next to their name. Go easy on the rewards, but certainly bake them into the process of participation.
- Identify both power users and up and coming users.Call out your power users with featured spots on your home page or corporate blog. And don’t forget that if you always call out the top 10 users, the other 90,000 won’t feel like they have a chance. Shine the spotlight on the up and comers too!
Can these lurkers and content creators co-exist in social media harmony? Better yet, what can organizations do to move lurkers into engaged members of the community?
Comments
I just lurked this post and tweeted it. Then, I thought, 'hey, I should at least acknowledge my tendency to lurk, bookmark, and *maybe* comment or blog respond later.'" One of my New Year's resolutions was to comment on blogs more. It's hard!
I admit, I lurk a lot more that I create but I do enjoy getting my voice out. I usually participate in spurts. Once I comment or post one place, it causes a chain reaction of thoughts and I feel like I have to follow-through with a public post before I lose steam. Other times, I just have too much darn work to do.
We need lurkers as much as we need creators. Lurkers can sometimes lurk for strategy, then deploy creators to follow-up and do something amazing! Haha!
Cheers!
Autumn, thanks for "lurking" your way over this way and taking the big step of adding a comment - glad to inspire you to participate in the dialogue. Please, come back for more!
Cheers, KDS
Kari - very insightful article. As a member of the older generation of bloggers, lurkers, commenters and tweeters, I feel an obligation to share comments and let all these years of experience and insight benefit others. I guess I had better engage more in LinkedIn and increase my twittering. Have you read my blog lately? http://observationsindailylife.blogspot.com/ [7]
Thank you for the food for thought.
Katherine
Thanks for stopping by Katherine - you could never be accused of lurking, and I hope that more will follow your lead and be willing to put themselves out there to share unique experiences and insight. This is especially important from the perspective of fostering greater cross generational dialogue. You certainly do this on your blog through both your writing and photography.
Great post Kari!
I'm intrigued by the idea of simple tools for basic users, and more complicated ones for power-users. Can you give an example or two of what this might look like?
Thanks!
Thanks for the great post. I've certainly been a lurker at time; it usually all about listening and learning first. Though I do wish some lurkers would participate more in the conversation a bit more--especially when you know they are reading. I find it hard at times to get readers of a newer blog to see the two-way street.
I want to highlight the importance of IDing both power users and up and comers. That's a huge step for most organizations, even those that are already pretty on the ball when it comes to their SM Strategies. If you're having difficulties with that step on the communications department, talk with the development side of your organization because they should already have a strong history of highlighting individuals at all levels (that and any excuse to help break down silos is a good one imo).
And Kari, great job in nudging this lurker out of hiding and into participating. I'm curious how many others you'll get with this post.
To Criticize the Temptation and Cons of laptop bags [8] Popular Things about your Marvelous laptop bags [8]
5 Rules You should Break Information that Glow Attaint to You Know What? I Bought a Wonderful hobo bags [9] for My Mother at a Very Low Price
Kari-depending on the type of community an organization is trying to build or network into, I'd add one more "Must Do" to your list:
Train & Mentor Newbies
On ramping new members of a community is vital. There are many ways to achieve this -- a "how to" walk media piece, push messaging to suggest things they could do in their first weeks after joining to contribute to the conversation, or pairing them with a more seasoned community member. Help the new member both feel welcome, but also overcome the hesitation to chime in or add value to the conversation. This is especially crucial for online groups who may be dominated by a few, long-term member voices. Creating a "newbies conversation" on a topic just for them to ease them into the tool, dialogue, community culture, etc. is another tactic.
Applause for the recommendation to identify and praise up and comers. Add training/mentoring to the front-end of this and the likelihood of having those up and comers goes up.
Great post. Keep 'em coming.
Michael Cervino
www.beaconfire.com/blog/ [10]
grate