The intricacies and secrets-yet-unlocked of Plans surely abound. I chose to focus on the very specific community aspects and then further branched out to explain a sample of Plans behaviors which relate to the definition of community. Other lenses should be donned to look upon Plans.
In the highly advanced fields of network mapping and data mining, highly complex and informative maps of Plans with 1000s of nodes could provide insight into the exact dynamics and patterns of plan loving, auto read lists, and, in general, degrees of separation within Plans. Are there, as I suspect, cliques within Plans or is it truly one giant web without specific concentrations among groups?
Plenty of interesting work could be done on the psychological effects of Plans. Do people change themselves in their plan when compared to their "real" selves? The unknown weight given to postings on Plans doubtlessly effects its role in the real world. The unusually accurate means of identification is rare in today's online world, and accountability probably compares more to e-mail than to MySpace or even Facebook. But how close does it come to face-to-face communication?
A third of many options for Plans analysis is to place Plans in the larger context of the internet. How does Plans really compare to Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Xanga, LiveJournal, or the thousands of blogs on the internet today? Do the primitive features help foster community because the sole focus remains on text-only communication? One user described Plans as a good alternative to e-mail because "e-mail is too formal." With the proliferation of "higher-tech" communities, as well as the sudden boom in 3-dimensional environments such as Second Life, how will Plans be redefined in light of new developments? Will Plans or Plans-type communities become the new e-mail and e-mail the new handwritten letter? Plans' role as a community in a more and more globalized world and a more and more digital world remains undefined.