After reading my latest post regarding the Survey on Social Networks Worldwide, Stowe Boyd wrote a very interesting post about Social Networks And The New Tribalism.

Boyd writes:

“I think a new tribalism is starting to emerge through social connection on the web. A bottom-up, emergent sense of allegiance through web-enabled communities is supplanting twentieth century, industrial era alienation. While tribalism has its dark side — a tendency toward inter-tribal conflict and aggression — the wiring of the human mind and new social technologies are combining to engender neo-tribalism….

My primary relationship with the world is through my social network, and I don’t mean Facebook: I mean the specific collection of a few hundred people that I connect with through a smorgasbord of tools and services. And this is more important to me than other allegiance. More important than religion (not that I have one, really, aside from a diffused sort of Taoism), locality (I am a nomad, after all, like many tribal peoples), and definitely more than nationality (I haven’t felt very American for some time).

The difference with the new tribalism is that it is borderless, and isn’t organized as an exclusionary system. Some may reject new tribalism as being in conflict with their other allegiances. Hard bitten business types who feel that the purpose of work is to crush competitors and win at all costs will find the inherent altruism and shared social capital of web tribalism incompatible with their world view. Religions that are based on hatred of non-believers or those that have different beliefs will find web tribalism a growing threat to their exclusionary practices. Centralized national governments will fan the fires of industrial-era patriotism, but will find less adherents that are willing to bond with the notion of national interests trumping global and personal concerns.”

In his post, Boyd digs deep into the meaning of social networks and the human need to connect with others on a level that is beyond religion, geography, or nationality. I also wrote a similar post two months ago entitled Why We Should Care About Web 2.0 in which I emphasized the fact that social networks now represent our new tribal communities:

“Throughout time humans have always liked to interact and share with one another. Web 2.0 is only a digital extension of that desire. Web 2.0 communities are for us today what tribal or village communities used to be for our ancestors. They represent a place where we can make new connections, share details of our lives with them, and discuss topics that matter to us.”

Like Boyd, I also believe that social networks represent our new form of allegiance. We are entering an era of virtual, borderless connections where geography, nationality, or religion are no longer the primary dividers. Connections are now based on deeper personal elements such as: Traits, habits, views, and hobbies. Due to differences in these elements, just like in the past, not all tribes will get along. Each one of us will choose the tribe(s) where he feels most “at home”, with the people that he relates to the most, and pledge allegiance to that community. There will be some people who, as Boyd writes, will view this new tribalism as being in conflict with their other allegiances. These persons have always existed throughout time and have always tried to keep the “masses from rebellion”. For the rest of us, let’s enjoy all the privileges and advantages that this new tribalism brings us by allowing us to forge strong communities based on our own personalities (or inner selves) and not based on what country or religion we were born into.

Only a few hours after Boyd published his post, Jeff Jarvis posted on The emergence of media tribes, which is somewhat related to the topic at hand. Jarvis writes about the latest Pew Research Center study on Americans’ views of their news media showing falling trust, growing divides, and the emergence of media tribes.

Jarvis writes:

“Pew was most struck by the growing difference in opinions about media among people who use different media. Bottom line: People who use the internet as their primary source for news — who are also younger and better educated than the rest of the country — are the most critical of mainstream media (and probably the most likely to sneer at it as “MSM”). TV viewers are older and also less critical.

I see the emergence of media tribes.

Different groups use different media and have different views of that media. Perhaps that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is, the internet is used to criticize MSM and it attracts people who are critical of MSM and thus it is more critical of MSM. Or not. It could be that younger, better-educated people are already inclined to be critical of MSM and that is why they gravitate to a medium that gives them more choice, comparison, and control. Chicken, meet egg.

This is an inevitable outcome of the end of monolithic media: the death of The Press. Now that we have the means of comparison, we compare — and the old controllers do not compare well. I have long decried the allegedly grand shared experience of media that really lasted only three decades — from the 50s, when network TV killed second and third newspapers locally, to the 80s, when the cable box, VCR, and remote control gave us more choice, to the mid 90s when the internet gave us more control. I say it is a good thing to have more voices, more perspectives, more means to compare.

But I’ll also note that this division of the media tribes means that we are each seeing different Americas. That will have ever greater implications for not only news media but also for politics and public policy as well as any consumer business. Of course, this means you can’t just buy network TV to sell soap or ideas anymore. But it also means you’re never talking to one nation.”

So there you have it. Tribes are emerging around us everywhere. Each of us is trying to find his own domain (lliterally) where he can best connect with others who share his views, tastes, and habits, pledge allegiance to that community, get the news that he chooses, share his perspective, and have a say in controlling all of these elements. Web 2.0 symbolizes our freedom of choice in controlling all of these factors and we should cherish this freedom and embrace it.

Which tribe(s) do you belong to?

Thanks to Frans Devriese for the photo.

I have recently taken part in a survey created by An De Jonghe, a headhunter in IT who is currently finishing a book on social networks worldwide. The survey aimed to to determine which networks are used most in different countries, who uses them, and why. Below you’ll find the results (taken from here) and my thoughts on them.

Over 850 people from 54 countries took part in the online survey.

Who was the average Joe who filled out this survey?

Male, between 30 and 40 years old, in a relationship, with children. Above you can see the percentage of people who participated in each country. Surprisingly only 27% of women participated, even though they are generally considered as being heavier users of social networks.

Which social networks were found to be most popular?

Linkedin clearly takes the lead when it comes to business networking, or networking in general, in the demographic group that was surveyed. This is exactly the reason why I believe that all the people who are leaving Linkedin now and focusing all their efforts on Facebook, are making a mistake. Don’t get me wrong, Facebook is definitely my preferred network these days but I still think that many professionals view Linkedin as a more appropriate platform to network.

Why do people join a social network?

Surprisingly, a whopping 89% put “professional use” as their number one reason to join an online community. 53% use social networks to socialize and stay connected with friends and a meager 16% join social networks if they cater to their hobbies. An states that these results completely disprove the belief that online communities are predominantly used by teenagers who like to chat and socialize. She also writes that this survey makes you question the survival chances of specialized networks (niche networks) that don’t currently offer a business advantage.

I must say that I think these numbers are somewhat skewed given the demographic of the group surveyed and the fact that a large group of the participants are users of Ecademy, a business networking site. If a younger, less “business oriented” group of people had been surveyed, I think that most of them would say they use networks for socializing and interacting with their friends.

Is it important that people can use their own language?

Even with globalization and the increasing use of English, the majority of people think it is important to be able to use one’s own language when interacting online (40%). 31% feel it is convenient but not necessary; 28% don’t feel it is important. If you’re launching a network today, this is definitely important information to remember. Wouldn’t you want to score points with your potential users by offering them the possibility of using their own language?

Would people prefer to pay a membership fee for an ad-free network or would they prefer a free account with advertising?

20% of users are willing to pay for the privilege of having an ad-free community, while 80% are not. It would be interesting to calculate how much money you could earn with - say- Google Adwords (the preferred partner for most small networks) as well as offering 20% of your estimated public an ad-free environment and charging them a membership fee.

Would people join a network because someone famous is a member?

20% of people said they would. When A Small World (a so-called “gated community” which is invite-only) reportedly counted Paris Hilton and Tom Cruise amongst its members, everyone and his poodle wanted to join. An writes that one Korean network has used this trick successfully by openly announcing which celebrities were members, but strangely enough most networks don’t use this marketing trick.

Frankly, I think I understand why other networks haven’t used this marketing ploy. I could care less whether Brad Pitt is a member of the community or not. What I care about is that the network serves my needs in the best way possible with a nice and user friendly interface.

How much time do people spend on their social network(s)?

The majority of people visit their site(s) several times a day (37%) or once a day (18%). 22% visit their networks several times a week. That adds up to 77% of all respondants who are intense networkers -much more than what most surveys seem to suggest. The fact that many people were introduced to this survey through one network or another obviously embellishes the results, but even so, An says she wonders whether social networking is establishing itself as an accepted business practice (similar to prospecting) which people can do during business hours instead of a tool to find a new date.

I definitely see that as time passes, more and more companies are understanding the significance of social networking, and are even requesting that their marketing departments become socially active on the net in order to create a buzz regarding their products and market them virally.

Would people consider joining a network outside their own country?

Three quarters of all participants consider themselves true cosmopolitans, while 13% are only interested in local communities and another 13% would only go as far as neighbouring countries.

As the results show, most people understand the importance of social networks allowing us to bridge geographical borders and network globally with people from all over the world, and not just in our local area.

What are the top 3 things people do when turning on their PC’s?

While email and surfing the Internet take the first two spots, checking your social network profile comes in third with 44%. It has become considerably more important than Internet banking, online shopping, or gaming, adding to the notion that for a growing group of Internet users, social networking has become an integral part of their online identity and habits.

Do people participate in offline meetings of social networks?

While a majority of those surveyed do not participate in offline meetings (54%), 46% do participate in such events, suggesting that social networks can establish further contact with and between members if they choose to do so. That being said, a vast majority of online communities do not organize face to face meetings, probably because this demands certain logistics and resources such as time, money, and volunteers, which not all networks have access to.

I also think that not all social networks fully understand the significance of organizing such local, offline events and should make more of an effort to organize them, as this will give these networks a big advantage over their competitors.

Do people use video networks?

81% off all participants in this survey said that they do not use video networks. An writes: Is video networking a hype or has the business world yet to discover/appreciate the power of video? I am sure it is the latter.

Frankly this statistic is doubtful in my mind. However as we all know, only about 1% of YouTube users actually upload videos to the site. The rest of the people see the site more as their “entertainment” viewing channel and not as a place to interact with friends. I also think that as podcasting becomes a more popular medium, this statistic will change dramatically.

In conclusion, I question some of these results and think that they were largely affected by the demographic of its participants. In any case, it is definitely clear that the demand for social networks is growing rapidly. I still find much of this information quite valuable for anyone who’s launching or has launched an online social network. These results will be used in An’s book, “Social Networks Around The World: How is Web 2.0 changing your daily life?”, which will be out on Amazon later this year.

Good news! Gilad, MeeMix’s CEO has given me 4 more invites for their private beta and of course I’d like to give it to you guys. First 4 people who comment back and say they want one, will receive them.

I was told by a confidential source a few days ago that ICQ’s founders are launching their own television site and now I see that TechCrunch has written about it.

Knocka.TV is described on its site as:

“…the latest from the inventors of ICQ, the web’s first Instant Messenger. Building on our success with bringing people together on the web, “We’ve created a new form of Television!”. It’s social and real. It’s hyper-interactive and creative. Best of all, it’s democratic. Knocka lets the People decide what’s on TV, playing only original videos from the best web video producers in a professional TV broadcasting style.

The People Have Taken Over.
You decide what’s on Knocka.TV…
…and what gets Knocked Out.”

It seems like Knocka.TV will use a similar voting process to Digg where members submit videos and then the community votes and decides which videos will rise to the top and be broadcasted. The site has not yet entered private beta but you can submit your email to be an early beta tester. Knocka.TV is also currently searching for original Web Video Producers to submit content and you can apply on the site for that as well.

Since ICQ was one of the true originators of the idea of an online community, this latest venture seems like a natural extension of their role as community builders. I have signed up to become a beta tester and can’t wait to check it out. 

Did you know that the majority of blog Readers read a very small number of top blogs? Is this social media?  We all have our usual daily reading list: TechCrunch, Mashable, Robert Scoble, Om Malik, Guy Kawasaki, etc. But how often do we invest time in searching for undiscovered blogs with new points of view?

on August 31st, I will be participating in BlogDay. BlogDay takes place once a year and is a day when bloggers from all over the world post recommendations of 5 new blogs, preferably blogs that are different from their own culture and perpective. On this day, blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, diverse, and interesting blogs, from all over the globe.

BlogDay was created by Nir Ofir, VP of Product & Content at blogTV.com, with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest.

Here are the BlogDay posting instructions:

1. Find 5 new blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2007
3. Write a short description of the blogs and place a link to the recommended blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link:
   http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2007 and a link to the BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org

For all bloggers out there, join me on this day of celebration & discovery, and post your own recommendations. For all my readers, be sure to check back on August 31st for my recommendations.

MeeMix, a new Israeli startup, has launched its beta program yesterday. MeeMix can best be described as a personalized internet radio community. It aims at identifying individual taste and taste prediction in media using its own behavioral-based algorithm and additional methodologies, created in-house.

MeeMix’s idea is similar to Pandora or Last.fm but it uses a different (and better) prediction method in identifying the user’s taste. As my friend Roi writes in his post on TechCrunch:

“Typically, there are two ways to perform such predictions:

1. “Nature” (Pandora) – Decision making is based upon the compatibility between one song and another—personal taste not being part of the equation.
2. “Nurture” (Last.fm) – Decision making is based upon environmental factors—song compatibility not being part of the equation”

Gilad Shlang, CEO of MeeMix tells me: “We see personal preference as the right balance between NATURE and NURTURE. MeeMix believes that your genetic disposition, combined with your present and past experience, defines who you are today. By heeding to both nature and nurture, we are able to offer accurate and better results. For clarification, Nature is based solely on song classification - prepared by our top group of musicologists who analyzed hundreds of musical values- and Nurture is an individual’s own characteristics, combined with his or her interactions in our virtual surroundings. The MeeMix algorithm is a taste prediction tool that not only points out similar songs but also takes geographical, sociological, behavioral and physiological characteristics into account.”

MeeMix is also a social network allowing members to connect based on similar musical tastes, shared passions, or even by reading each other thoughts, journals, reviews, dreams, and secrets (the last available for their Mee friends only). A MeeMix member can broadcast his personal radio station to other members and share his tastes with the entire community. The broadcaster (or Mee’J) can always see his audience and communicate with them. The more listeners you have, the more popular you are, and the more prominent you will be on the site. For those of you who are really into self branding, you can even print out t-shirts with your channel name and number of subscribers.

The first page you will see in MeeMix is the MeePlayer which is, you guessed it, their player. This page is the entertainment system of the site; allowing the member to create multiple (personalized) stations, change the present “mood” of every station (its average beat rate,
level of surprise), and control the interactive features related to the currently playing track, such as adding to favorites, commenting, song rating, and more. The right hand side of the MeePlayer, named “YOU” or “Meet People”, is a living, talking and moving line of communication with other members. You will see YOU throughout the site, in the same place, ready for action.

The MeeMix world includes 4 main content sections:
1. Mee Style – the member’s personal corner in MeeMix. In Mee Style you can:
a. Check who is listening to your stations and contact your fans
b. Get updated on invitations you sent to friends
c. Update or edit your own profile
d. Receive messages from other members

2. Mee People – the MeeMix community. This will be your main meeting place, where you can:
a. Browse through other members’ thoughts
b. Search for people by:
i. Their personal musical style
ii. Member characteristics such as: age, location, sex and more
c. Check out who is listening to whom in MeeMix

3. Music – a section all about music, both in and out of the MeeMix world. If you are looking to browse through members’ stations or check out who is listening to whom, this is the place. In Music, you’ll find:
a. Radio station search by genre
b. Rising Star stations, which are stations with the highest fan growth
c. Most popular stations
d. The newest stations in MeeMix
e. Top 100 Songs in MeeMix
f. New Releases

4. The Source – Website owners and bloggers, this is the place you will find MeeMix widgets and other goodies that you can add to your site. Choose from widgets that present your favorite artists, Music style, Mee friends, and more.

I received an invite from Gilad for the MeeMix private beta and have been playing around with the application in the last two days. Apart from it being an amazing and unique product, MeeMix has one of the nicest and most user-friendly interfaces that I have ever seen. 

Gilad was nice enough to give me 4 more invites. The first 4 people who comment back and say they want one, will get them.