Frustrated with the negative connotation that I believe unfairly stigmatizes this type of behavior, I decided to go on Twitter today and ask my community, you all, for recommendations on other possible names:
I didn't convey specifically why I was asking the question so I wouldn't skew any answer. The first response I received was from a colleague, who cemented (for me) the fact that when you hear the term "voyeur" your reaction is not warm and fuzzy but more ogling sleazeball:
The next response was even more scathing and really ruffled my brow:
Leech? Are they insinuating that consuming content online is equivalent to bloodsucking?Timeout.
Let's go back to what I'm trying to rename. Users online who consume others content but don't generate any of their own.
Leech. I hadn't realize people felt so negatively about this type of behavior. Which I kind of feel is a misconception that I'd like to try to disprove quickly with an example.
Example #1:
I want to know more about Leeches. I go to Wikipedia and find their article on Leeches. I click on the link to one of the References listed at the bottom of the article and end up on a site with any kind of users generated content. I read. I smile. Because I now know that the medicinal use of leeches dates as far back as 2,500. Fascinating. And then I repeat this process whenever I desire to gain information about a particular subject and never publish any piece of content myself.
We can take this same example, change the objective - now I want to buy a Ford Explorer - commence said cycle of online exploration and see how the behavior that we are trying to define describes a behavior that is very common these days:
Is this behavior so bad that we'd refer to people who do it as leeches?
I hope you now understand my desire to find a new term. Back to more responses!
- @megrnelson what about "recreational users"? ...though that comes with no shortage of baggage, haha.
- @megrnelson we used to say "lurker" a lot.
- @megrnelson "Consumer" doesn't seem personable enough to me and I try to avoid using it. Reader? Listener? Customer? Participant?
Spectator! I liked the sound of that. My initial reaction to that word is in reference to a sporting event. Unlike voyeurism, it's a completely acceptable term and more flexible. For example, you could be a spectator at a soccer game. But then you could move to the fan section, cheering on the people "participating" in the game (speaking of... Can you hear Chivas sing? We can't hear a $%#ing thing! Go Sounders!).
And when I say "cheer", I really mean promote or share other users content. And finally, if you felt so inclined, you could play in the game by publishing your own content.
I know that is cheesier than the Mac & Cheese I had for dinner tonight (it was Kraft Deluxe!) but I really do think there is a need to change out "voyeur" with something more positive and productive, like Spectator.
That's what I've pulled out of the conversation I had with many of you on Twitter so far. I'd love to continue it at anytime, get more of your feedback and find other words that might work. Again, thank you to everyone for taking the time to respond to my post today. It's all very thought provoking.
Last but not least, I'd like to give a little shout out to Andrew for suggesting I turn today's discussion into a blog post. I hope you weren't disappointed! :)
