Long before I purchased my first Macintosh computer, I’ve noticed an unusually strong connection between Mac Users. My high school friends would often break into conversation about the next Macs, allowing social outsiders to temporarily break into the conversation and offer their two cents. Strangers in Apple stores easily start conversation with one another, providing personal advice or anecdotes about the latest operating system. The half-eaten apple has grown from a simple logo to a secret handshake amongst Mac Users and their underground bond.
Mac Users share a common ground interest in high-quality computers and not conforming to the Windows standard. Some Apple users are united in professional identity through film, music, or grapchic production, which widely rely on Macintosh computers. My friends and myself enjoy the simple interface, reliability, and elegant look and feel. Mac developers most likely share a commitment to the technical advantages behind Macs over Windows. Different social circles connect over a wide variety of common ground stemming from a superior product.
A few of my close friends own Macs and most of our conversation revolves around Mac news and fixing each others problems. These two types of transactions correspond are 'goods,' as Haythornwaite describes. Knowing when Apple will release their next laptops can save me from buying at the wrong time. Mac computer help (although rarely required) can be very valuable, especially for new Mac users needing help setting up their computers. Both interactions are usually reciprocal, as Mac Users are willing to help others when needed in exchange for help in the future. When someone hears a new Mac rumor, he or she is often obliged to tell all of his or her Mac friends, expecting the same in return. These interactions even have their own language as per the Gemeinschaft definition of community: ‘the dock,’ ‘Safari,’ and ‘drag-n-drop’ are a few fundamentals only Mac Users are familiar with. Additionally, Mac users exclusively participate in online events such as four-way video chat. Enthusiasts I know travel to Apple store openings with one another as well as to developer conferences and Mac User Groups. Mac Users develop close relations with their surrounding network and often maintain closer ties with Mac friends than with Windows people. Because this common interest strengthens already present social network ties, it forms its own sub-social network within the aggregate, linking friends with Macs all over the world.
The mutual exchange of rumors and technical help has boomed online, and only widened the network by expanding the social capital given to Mac Users. Even if one doesn’t have any friends with a Mac, he or she can reap the benefits from online forums. This thread is one example of the community’s willingness to spread and share rumors to help with purchase timing. The also users self-disclose and address one another, just as an offline community would. Although these people are strangers offline, the Mac community makes them close friends online:
“I agree with Acting rude... if you wait every time something new is announced you'll never get it.”
“I like the idea of black aluminum... I won't be super anxious about what's coming for much longer...”
The degree to which Mac Users are able to freely interact with one another online yields another great benefit of social capital: mobilization. When Apple dropped the price on the iPhone, its customers quickly confided in one another on this thread. Petitions were signed and Mac Users all over the web complained in masses. This resulted in Apple listening to its community and giving early purchasers a rebate to quell the fire. Such mobilization could never occur without the online spaces for quick communication, nor the strength of the Mac Community. The social capital that Mac Users receive from one another develops more strongly online, where access to fellow users is easier and less expensive to maintain. Capital also develops offline, where we can talk to our friends about technical problems and rumors face to face. However, swift mobilization and archives of user-generated help and rumor reports would never exist without the Internet. Online spaces have greatly increased the visibility and influence of fellow Mac Users, making it easy to find each other and hence the community.
I also keep in touch with my Mac friends through IM when I need their valuable expertise. I often ask my high school friends Mac questions online, maintaining our offline Mac User community through this lean medium. The online/offline synergies exist in many ways, explaining some of the ways the Mac Community maintains its strong, albeit invisible presence.
Comment 1
Comment 2
4 comments:
Steve, your post was an interesting take on the assignement in that you know part of your community from FTF but most were met online. In fact, you probably have not met most of the members of your community (I assume there are members that are not too active in the community). It is also such a large community that it is probably hard to get to know even a decent amount of the members of your community. Using CMC, mac users can help each other. There is a large amount of social capital when CMC brings together people from all over the world that are connected only by their interest in macs. Good post Steve.
Steve, “the cult of Mac” is a perfect example for this assignment. Had you not beaten me to it and explained it so perfectly I would have done the same subject.
I completely agree with everything you’ve said. The online/offline synergy is especially noteworthy. Despite the fact that Apple rumors surface on web sites and blogs around the Internet, they quickly transfer into all of our FtF interactions and spread via word-of-mouth as well.
I often find myself scanning a room to see who’s got a glowing apple in front of them. I’ve even seen a Dell with an apple sticker over the logo – a shameless attempt to gain access to our private club. When we see other Mac users it’s an automatic icebreaker. I once sat across a table from someone for a few hours without speaking, but when I noticed he had an iPhone we struck up a long conversation about Apple news, Fake Steve Jobs and even things completely unrelated to Apple. It’s really an amazing phenomenon that so many people can feel so connected by a brand.
Steve, the community you describe fits the Etzioni and Etzioni model very well, with respect to the social network, common ground, and reciprocity aspects of community. I have noticed in Apple stores how the employees can be much more friendly and familiar with current owners of Apple products than those looking to purchase their first Mac, and how Mac users can easily strike up conversation as if they all belonged to the same club. This certainly fits the idea that the relationships within the community are affect-laden and reciprocal based on a shared identity and culture. I wonder why such a community does not exist for users of the Windows operating system, especially since Windows generally has many more problems that people need help fixing. I think this may be based on the idea that Macs are geared more towards the social aspects of computing by including things such as an integrated webcam, pre-installed chat/IM programs, and a shared set of uniform applications across all Macs, such as those in iLife and iWork. Anyway, you picked a good topic and did a great job analyzing the community.
Post a Comment