Amy Gahran has asked the question, what's different about starting conversations online? She's made a few initial observations about online conversations allowing for delayed responses and divided attention, both of which are excellent points.
So I began to ponder and thought back to one of my most recent, lengthy conversations, a four-hour catchup session with an old college friend at a local wine bar. She does blog a bit online, but she is definitely more of an in-person kind of communicator. So what happened during this talk that couldn't have happened online?
Never minding the fact that Second Life will never serve up a chardonnay as crisp and chilled as the one I was sipping that night nor pair it with such deliciously stinky cheese as we enjoyed, I think my initial answer is the pace of the conversation. We covered a huge number of topics in that four-hour period. We talked about everything from nursing school to feral cats to the evils of soy to daredevil decapitation (seriously). I doubt that our online conversation would have flowed so smoothly from one topic to another or that either of us would have been as intently focused and engaged as we were in the wine bar.
However, here is an interesting twist: one of the reasons we did spend so much time catching up that night is because, after over 10 years in Chicago, she is moving back to Texas. So the chances that we will be able to sip wine and chat together in the same room any time soon is slight. Most likely, her blog postings and comments will be our primary means of communication for the next few years. So to rephrase Ms. Gahran's question, how will that be different?
- One topic at a time. Our blog posts generally are a few paragraphs long that cover thoughts or ideas around one central topic, even if the topic is a day's worth of narrative events.
- Time-shifting. I tend to start my mornings with blog reading, whereas she blogs and emails later at night, after her niece has gone to bed. Phone calls would be difficult to coordinate, but we can choose when we comment and continue the conversation.
- Divided attention. As Ms. Gahran pointed out, I can read a post while doing something else. If it requires a thoughtful response, I can think about it and respond later, when I can give it more of my attention. If I'd appeared distracted in our real-life conversation, it undoubtedly would have come across as rude.
Those are my initial thoughts with a personal example. What do you think?
