We explain what a user is, what types of users can be found and what role each one plays on the Internet.
What is a user?
In computing and Web culture, a user is understood as a set of permissions and resources assigned to an operator as part of a computer network and it could well be a person, a computer program or a computer.
This concept of user differs from the traditional one contemplated in dictionaries, since for the latter a user is “someone who uses something”, while users in Web 2.0 play a very active role in content production and other activities that require a high level of participation.
Thus, when you want to refer specifically to the human individuals behind a computer or system, it is better to refer to them as subjects either citizens.
In many cases we talk about users to refer to user accounts, that is, the personalized and/or individual configurations that have access to the functions of a computer system. It should be noted, however, that the same human user can manage several user accounts, or none (if not registered in the system).
In that sense we can talk about the following types of computer users:
- Registered users These are those users who have a user account and who regularly live on the Internet, either as consumers or producers of information, or both intermittently.
- Anonymous users Those who browse the Internet without making their presence known through registrations, formalizations or accounts assigned to a user, but remain unidentified. Typically has fewer privileges than the registered user.
- Trolls This category includes users of forums and social networks whose presence in these social environments is problematic or abusive: they incite hatred, verbally attack others and make the experience less pleasant.
- Beta-testers. These are test users, that is, they use software experimentally or in development, in order to take note of its weaknesses or evaluate its operation, etc.
- Hackers Those users with in-depth computer knowledge who are capable of sabotaging or altering code segments of Web programs to benefit from it in different ways.
Other classifications of possible users start from the level of expertise in managing the network or any computer system, and which generally boils down to: beginners (or newbies), intermediate and experts (or pros).
However, any classification of users will always be partial and, at most, temporary.
See also: Spyware
