Tribes

Seth Godin defines a tribe as a group of people connected to an idea, to a leader and to one another, and argues that the web has made such groups far easier to find, organize and lead. Tribes, from religious groups to Deadheads, have always existed, but the internet removed limits of distance, cost and time and left a shortage of leaders. Godin names three requirements: wanting to change something, being able to connect members and being willing to lead. Examples include Joel Spolsky and his software engineers, climber Chris Sharma, and Microsoft vice president Mich Mathews with her internal tribe of marketers. It is aimed at anyone hoping to rally colleagues, customers, investors or hobbyists around an idea.

Andrew Youderian, founder of eCommerceFuel, said it helped him learn how to lead a community, and Michael Herrmann, founder of Terminerinnerung, valued its argument that each product or service draws its own tribe of like-minded people.