The term netizen is a portmanteau of the English words internet and citizen,^[1] as in a "citizen of the net" or "net citizen".^[2][3][4] It describes a person^[5] actively involved in online communities or the Internet in general.^[6][7]

The term also commonly implies an interest and active engagement in improving the internet, making it an intellectual and a social resource,^[5] or its surrounding political structures, especially in regard to open access, net neutrality and free speech.^[8] The term was widely adopted in the mid-1990s as a way to describe those who inhabit the new geography of the internet.^[9] Internet pioneer and author Michael F. Hauben is credited with coining and popularizing the term.^{[5][10][11][12][13]}

In general, any individual who has access to the internet has the potential to be classified as a netizen. In the 21st century, this is made possible by the global connectivity of the internet. People can physically be located in one country but connected to most of the world via a global network.^[12]

There is a clear distinction between netizens and people who come online to use the internet. A netizen is described as an individual who actively seek to contribute to the development of the internet.^[14] Netizens are not individuals who go online for personal gain or profit, but instead actively seeks to make the internet a better place.^[15][12]

A term used to classify internet users who do not actively contribute to the development of the internet is "lurker". Lurkers cannot be classified as netizens, as although they do not actively harm the internet, they do not contribute either.^[16][17][18]

Besides, lurkers seemed to be more critical of the technological elements enabling communities whereas posters appeared to be more critical of users who hampered community creation by making rude or unpleasant comments. Additionally, discussions indicate that both lurkers and posters had distinct motives for lurking and might modify their engagement behaviours based on how they understand the community from various online groups, despite the fact that engagement between those who post and those who lurk was different in the communities studied.^[19]

In Mandarin Chinese, the terms wǎngmín (simplified Chinese: 网民; traditional Chinese: 網民, literally "netizen" or "net folks") and wǎngyǒu (simplified Chinese: 网友; traditional Chinese: 網友, literally "net friend" or "net mate") are commonly used terms meaning "internet users", and the English word netizen is used by mainland China-based English language media to translate both terms, resulting in the frequent appearance of that English word in media reporting about China, far more frequently than the use of the word in other contexts.^[20][21]

The international nonprofit organisation Reporters Without Borders awards an annual Netizen Prize in recognition to an internet user, blogger, cyber-dissident, or group who has helped to promote freedom of expression on the internet.^[22][23][24] The organisation uses the term when describing the political repression of cyber-dissidents such as legal consequences of blogging in politically repressive environments.

With time, more and more people have started interacting and building communities online. The effect it has on human psychology and life is of major interest and concern to researchers. Several studies are being done on netizens under the name Netizens’ Psychology. ^[25][26] Problems are internet addiction, mental health, outrage, and the effect on kids' development are some of the many problems netizen psychology tries to focus on.^[27]

• Hauben, Michael; Hauben, Ronda; Truscott, Tom (April 27, 1997). Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet (Perspectives). Wiley-IEEE Computer Society P. ISBN 0-8186-7706-6.

• The Mysterious Netizen