Lurking can be productive, depending on your goals. Let’s say you want to learn more about marketing; you join a marketing group, read messages, and learn more about marketing from a group, without ever posting anything.

On the other hand, if your goal is to gain more contacts, become more connected and promote your business, you need to network in order for others to get to know you. Let me give you an example I give at my seminars:

Let’s say a Lurker Lana and a Poster Paula have similar qualifications, and run similar businesses. They join the same networking group, where Lana is lurking, and Paula is participating. Now, after 3 months, another member, Maria, needs a service that both Lana and Paula provide. Which one of them is she going to contact?

She will contact Paula, as she has read Paula’s messages and got to know Paula through them. She does not know about Lana, though, as Lana has been quietly lurking or not posting to the group.

So, see what your goals are, and than decide to lurk or not to lurk.

Biana Babinsky
Biana Babinsky is the online business coach, author and expert, who teaches solopreneurs how to use the Internet to gain more clients and make more money. Get her Complete Step by Step Online Marketing Course to learn how to market and network better online.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 19th, 2005 at 7:05 pm and is filed under Internet Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.