Posting versus Lurking: Communicating in a Multiple Audience Context

Abstract

Two experiments examined public and private responding in a multiple-audience context—a context in which members have varying opinions. I propose and find that posters (those communicating their experience to others) are influenced only by another’s negative opinion because it triggers such social concerns as appearing indiscriminate. Consequently, they adjust their public attitudes downward. Self-presentational concerns appear to cause this negativity bias: lurkers (those not posting their opinion) were less affected by another’s negative opinion. Further-more, posters presented more than one side when publicly explaining their atti-tudes. These effects persisted despite posters ’ favorable product experiences and commitment to these attitudes. After patronizing a local restaurant, I visited City-search’s Web site to post my experience. I know that Citysearch attracts a diverse audience. How might this in-fluence the degree to which I incorporate others ’ reviews into my own? Past theorizing does not fully address the types of social pressures present in online group contexts