Social Media Commons^™

Subscriber's Behaviors In Electronic Discussion Groups: A Comparison Between Academics And Practitioners, Louisa Ha

School of Media and Communication Faculty Publications

This paper examines subscribers' behaviors in electronic discussion groups and compares the behavior of academic and practitioner subscribers. Data were collected from electronic mail surveys of the subscribers of four electronic discussion groups. Results of this study show that practitioners are much more likely to participate than academics as discussion leaders, respondents, and information-seekers. Academic subscribers are much more likely to act as quiet observers who only read others' messages and never post one themselves.