Why lurk, why join, and why post? The uses and gratifications of lurkers, infrequent posters, and frequent posters in the brand community context.

Abstract

Although lurkers and posters have often been treated as two discrete groups in the literature, there is growing evidence that lurking and posting behavior within online communities is a continuum. If we continue to cluster users into only two groups, it will be doubtful that researchers will genuinely understand who they are or how they behave. Thus, the purpose of the current article was to explore lurking and posting within brand communities by separating members into three groups: lurkers, infrequent, and frequent posters—and then analyzing the motives for posting within online communities rather than the more commonly studied motives for joining or exploring an online community. A cross-sectional survey of Qualtrics panel members who were members of social media brand communities was conducted. Results indicated that infrequent posters significantly differ from pure lurkers and frequent posters. The three groups differ regarding information seeking, entertainment, self-discovery, social integration, and social enhancement motives. Furthermore, a study of the motives for posting within these online communities found differences between the three groups. Therefore, academic research needs to separate lurkers and posters into more than two groups to understand them truly.