Matthew Carnevale, Head of Community at Exit Five brought the meaning of lurkers into my aperture. I understood the real meaning of lurkers in his nuanced LinkedIn post.
He says that ‘most of your audience will never consume your content .They won’t like it. They won’t comment on it. They won’t share it.
And that’s completely normal.
There’s a natural pattern in every audience, every community:
-> 1% create.
-> 9% sometimes engage.
-> 90% consume silently.
That 90%?
They’re still learning from you. They’re still building trust with you. They’re still thinking about you.
Lurkers are not disinterested.
They’re busy. They’re introverted. They’re cautious. They’re quietly watching.
Some of your biggest customers, advocates, and supporters are the people you never hear from — until one day they show up ready to buy, collaborate, or help you grow.
This is the nature of every community and audience.
That’s why showing up, having faith, and continuing to build and share value is the best thing you can do in the long run.’
Isn’t this powerful and tenacious of people who still show up to create content that can best and nobly serve their audience?
There’s reciprocity of quiet, profound value when you consistently create content – without having any expectation of it going ‘viral’; you become a beacon of positive contagion and incremental amelioration.
Your every post becomes a sequel to follow and generates curiosity in your audience. They somehow look forward to how you think and how you can change their thinking pattern.
You may not get an instant like or a joyful comment on your posts, but slowly your every post creates a network effect – and becomes a part of your audience’s story. The ensuing result? You are called to contribute your services and make meaning in a world that is secretly tired and exhausted of short-term imprints of content. They look for long-term, sustainable narrative that innately speaks their personal and business language. And these folks are also called ‘lurkers’ – people who underpin your writing efforts; people who secretly evangelise you and support you in every way!
So keep writing and telling your story, your lurkers are listening and imbibing the same in their work-lives.
Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash
