A most interesting post. Almost like a wayback machine to the days when Google+ was a magical place that keep me at the computer for 12-18 hours at a time...

A most interesting post. Almost like a wayback machine to the days when Google+ was a magical place that keep me at the computer for 12-18 hours at a time...
The link to the o.p. has a killer comment thread that is a work of art in it's own right.  

https://plus.google.com/110619855408549015935/posts/ZC2u2rCQJoy

Originally shared by Eli Fennell

Google+ and the "Long Conversation"
How a Social Network "Diaspora" Builds Culture

One cannot, I think, understand a social network without understanding culture.  With Facebook, one must understand a two-way road that began with culture being "exported" from the real world to the online world (via the connections to real world friends, family, acquaintances, and colleagues), and then "feeding back" into the real world (e.g. "Like Us on Facebook").

However, Facebook isn't a culture in its own right.  It attaches itself to culture, but for the most part is not a culture in itself.  Google+, on the other hand, has since it earliest days been a place where a true social network culture of its own has been born, aspect by aspect.

In trying to understand and explain the multi-faceted culture of Google+, I've discovered a source of insight in a most unexpected place: the book Invisible Powers: Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture edited by Claudine Michel and Patrick Bellegarde-Smith (http://goo.gl/zuhA9) and published under the auspices of The Congress of Santa Barbarba (KOSANBA) and the Center for Black Studies.

In Chapter 10, "How Houngans Use the Light from Distant Stars", LeGrace Benson speaks of a "Long Conversation" or "Long Theater".  This refers to the process of cultural exchange and assimilation, whereby every cultural/religious influence disseminated through contact with and between the slave Diaspora groups of Haiti (different tribes; Christian, Islamic, and indigenous African traditions; Britain and France; etc...) become syncretized into the expression of the new emerging culture.

It's possible to see how this "Long Conversation" also plays into the "culture" of Google+, which rather than experiencing the "mass migration" from Facebook that some Google marketers might have liked it to, has instead also experienced a "Diaspora" of those either self-exiled from other social networks, or seeking to fill some "void" in their social networking space unfulfilled by other networks.

This "Diaspora" has also bred a culture with its own etiquette, norms, terminology, "representatives", "ambassadors", "apologists", "anthropologists", etc...

Some examples:

Etiquette: Google+'s community is far more inclined to favor those who create and curate content on site over those who merely broadcast content from other sites (i.e. "Tweeters"),  and those who share their passions over those who spend most of their time sharing their "mundane" interests and activities (i.e. "Facebookers").

Norms: When resharing from others, it is customary to give a "hat tip" (h/t) or to identify the source with "via".  Thoughtful responses are preferred over +1's or one-off filler replies like "LOL" or "TY".

Terminology: "Circling" other "Plussers"; being an "engager"; Daria Musk's "G+NIUSES"; "Plus" as a verb i.e. "Plus Your Business"; the negative "Ghost Town" given the positive connotation of a place for "spirited" discussion and interaction; the "Round Head Tribe" (people with round profile pics, itself playing off the concept of "Circles" and inspired by the efforts of Patrick Sharpe); "Hangchors" like Sarah Hill and Melissa Carlson; etc...

Representatives / Ambassadors / Apologists: Robert Scoble's fascination with Plus (despite his renewed fascination with Facebook); Mike Elgan's passionate defense of Google+ engagement levels and his use of Plus as a blogging medium; Mark Traphagen or AJ Kohn's emphasis on Plus's SEO value; Johan Horak's colorful use of "racy" metaphors; Anita Law's take on Google+ as a "salon" (a place for intellectuals, philosophers, and the like to gather as colleagues for discussion and lively banter), Ronnie Bincer's emphasis on Plus's increasing YouTube integration; etc...

All of this emerges from the "Long Conversation" of each person contributing to a "Stream" of ideas and discussions, often building on each other.  One person who favors Apple products might discuss whether the new Windows tablet is a threat to iPad; the next person to share it, a fan of Google, might discuss whether it is a threat to Android; the next, a fan of Microsoft, might discuss it as the "re-emergence of Microsoft" or a disappointing failure.

An article about Facebook getting far more engagement than Google+ might prompt one person to question the methodology, the next to question whether the two should even be compared directly, and the next to suggest that Google+ is more in competition with Twitter for the "interest graph", depending on where they see Google+ fitting into their own social networking habits.  Each is, in their own way, embracing G+ as its own culture, needing to be understood on its own terms, and built on a "Stream" of interactions.

What began as one discussion, can easily segue into other more-or-less related discussions, even spinning off whole new threads, which in turn may spin-off other threads, which may even lead back to the original thread that started the process in the first place, all contributing to the "Long Conversation" in different ways.

My experience leads me to conclude that Google+ is no mere social network, nor simply an "online community", but a very real and sophisticated, online culture, perhaps unlike any other (most closely comparable, I suspect, to the early days of Twitter, or the Reddit community).  I embrace the part I play in helping to extend the "Long Conversation" across time and (cyber)space, as do many others, all contributing to arguably the most passionate internet community today.

But of course, a culture is more than one person.  How do you, my fellow Plussers, view the "culture" of Google+, and your own part in the ongoing interactions and exchanges that constitute our "Long Conversation"?