What Does Lurking Mean?
Lurking is the reading or viewing of an online community without posting or engaging with the community. A person lurking on an online community such as a message board, social media platform or forum, is known as a “lurker.”
Techopedia Explains Lurking
Generally, lurking activity on social media is not considered offensive or corrosive to personal relationships in the same way as more active interactions like flaming and trolling. In many cases, especially on Facebook and Twitter, lurking is seen as the polite thing to do, especially in situations where conflict has already arisen (as mentioned above). The polarization of social media into political camps exacerbates this incentive to lurk.
