Seth Godin is one of my favourite bloggers. He’s an entrepreneur and internet marketing ninja. I regularly read and link to him. Here’s his talk from TED earlier this year:
“Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so.”
This gear is really valuable in thinking through church, gathering people, church planting, movements and the like. Download his book “Tribes” in audiobook format for free.
Wow, that is huge
i reckon this he’s onto something. the more examples i think of the more i think what he’s saying is right and a valuable way to think about how and why people gather.
do you agree with him?
stimulating stuff – much to mull on
does tribalism lead to ghettoes – it can gather groups as strange as Ukranian red hat wearers or Reformed Evangelical ZProtestant Church Planting Anglicans
So you can connect with like minded people – but will social media offer more than that – so that there is communication between tribes?
It’s interesting. I like keeping up with stuff Seth writes too.
I can’t decide whether i agree or not.
There seems to be a lot of Nietzsche/existentialism in his thinking. leading a tribe almost seems like the new way to become the uberman. His call is to transcend the status quo, set the rules, reject the old way, live a true and ultimate existence. ‘You need to be the uberman’…’we all want you to be’… seems to be what he’s tapping into.
which i think is why it sounds so attractive.
@michael – tribalism leading to ghettos? yes – i think it can. that means that if we apply any of this tribes stuff to our Christian gatherings, we need to be aware of how easy it is to create a ghetto.
@reuben – nice uberman link!! i know he calls people to start tribes in that video, but that doesn’t mean he is opposed to being part of a tribe where he isn’t the leader of the tribe… i’ve read elsewhere him speak positively of different tribes that he is part of.