Google says that Google+ is fetchin' -- here's what would make it work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For a few glorious weeks in the early 21st century, we had this thing called "Trackback." It was terrific. You'd write something on your blog or website and it would ferret out any other blog posts or websites engaging with that content. It spawned links and conversations and cross-pollinations that would never have otherwise occurred. It got us talking -- and listening.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google says that Google+ is fetchin' -- here's what would make it work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For a few glorious weeks in the early 21st century, we had this thing called "Trackback." It was terrific. You'd write something on your blog or website and it would ferret out any other blog posts or websites engaging with that content. It spawned links and conversations and cross-pollinations that would never have otherwise occurred. It got us talking -- and listening.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-18T20:10:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/files\/2015\/11\/newgoogplus-300x161.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/\",\"name\":\"Google says that Google+ is fetchin' -- here's what would make it work\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-18T20:10:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-18T20:10:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"For a few glorious weeks in the early 21st century, we had this thing called \\\"Trackback.\\\" It was terrific. You'd write something on your blog or website and it would ferret out any other blog posts or websites engaging with that content. It spawned links and conversations and cross-pollinations that would never have otherwise occurred. It got us talking -- and listening.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Google says that Google+ is fetchin’ — here’s what would make it work\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Google says that Google+ is fetchin' -- here's what would make it work","description":"For a few glorious weeks in the early 21st century, we had this thing called \"Trackback.\" It was terrific. You'd write something on your blog or website and it would ferret out any other blog posts or websites engaging with that content. It spawned links and conversations and cross-pollinations that would never have otherwise occurred. It got us talking -- and listening.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Google says that Google+ is fetchin' -- here's what would make it work","og_description":"For a few glorious weeks in the early 21st century, we had this thing called \"Trackback.\" It was terrific. You'd write something on your blog or website and it would ferret out any other blog posts or websites engaging with that content. It spawned links and conversations and cross-pollinations that would never have otherwise occurred. It got us talking -- and listening.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2015-11-18T20:10:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/files\/2015\/11\/newgoogplus-300x161.png"}],"author":"Fred Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Clark","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/","name":"Google says that Google+ is fetchin' -- here's what would make it work","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-11-18T20:10:13+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-18T20:10:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47"},"description":"For a few glorious weeks in the early 21st century, we had this thing called \"Trackback.\" It was terrific. You'd write something on your blog or website and it would ferret out any other blog posts or websites engaging with that content. It spawned links and conversations and cross-pollinations that would never have otherwise occurred. It got us talking -- and listening.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Google says that Google+ is fetchin’ — here’s what would make it work"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/","name":"slacktivist","description":""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47","name":"Fred Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Fred Clark"},"description":"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":30375,"date":"2015-11-18T15:10:13","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T20:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=30375"},"modified":"2015-11-18T15:10:13","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T20:10:13","slug":"google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/11\/18\/google-says-that-google-is-fetchin-heres-what-would-make-it-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Google says that Google+ is fetchin’ — here’s what would make it work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Dear Google, you still want to make Google+ a thing?<\/a> Well, first you need to apologize for killing Google Reader and for getting rid of the blog search option.<\/p>\n

Those were great moves for Facebook and the AOL-ization of the Web \u2014 but they were both really, really bad news for bloggers and blog readers. Fix that, then maybe<\/em> we\u2019ll talk about Google+ as something other than a punchline.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what might interest me in Google+: Give it a trackback feature. Only better.<\/p>\n

$\"newgoogplus\"$ <\/a>For a few glorious weeks in the early 21st century, we had this thing called \u201cTrackback.\u201d It was terrific. You\u2019d write something on your blog or website and it would ferret out any other blog posts or websites engaging with that content. It spawned links and conversations and cross-pollinations that would never have otherwise occurred. It got us talking \u2014 and listening.<\/p>\n

Then Trackback drowned in a flood of spam for Cialis and porn sites and clickbait and all the garbage we\u2019d probably refer to as the \u201cdarkweb\u201d if that didn\u2019t already mean something else. But we still need something like Trackback, and we still miss it.<\/p>\n

Now more than ever, since our time on the Web has gotten splintered into various platforms. A cross-platform trackback function that encompassed all of those platforms \u2014 publishers, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, LinkedIn, YouTube, Amazon reviews \u2026 the whole shebang \u2014 would be invaluable. And it seems like something the folks at Google ought to be able to pull off, maybe better than anyone else.<\/p>\n

Done right, it could also be a way of reclaiming the Web from parasitic aggregators and click-baiters. That click-bait ad linking to some aggregator\u2019s sloppy rewrite of a Cracked.com article? It would now track back to the original content it hijacked\/stole, restoring traffic and attention and credit to where it belongs.<\/p>\n

When I see the next-generation of Google+ offering something like that \u2014 something that rewards content-creators, thereby encouraging the creation of content \u2014 then I\u2019ll start paying attention. Until then, I\u2019ll just assume that Google+ will continue to be \u2014 like Facebook \u2014 another gated community designed to make all those content creators work for its benefit, for free. And that is, to use Google\u2019s own word, evil.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"