I come from one of the most beautiful countries in the world, blessed with resources, and people. What makes us unique and special is the diverse nature of the Cameroonian population. There are about 19 million Cameroonians, spread across ten regions, and we belong to over 230 different tribes. Many of these tribes share a few things in common; however many of them have customs, food and local languages. Many years ago, one thing that was common to the entire country, was the tradition of storytelling. Tribal elders, surrounded by their families, and particularly young people sat around a bonfire at night to tell stories. This was how tradition was passed from generation to generation, that was how culture was preserved.
That was a long time ago anyway, and my country and many other parts of the world that practiced such traditions have moved on. Tribes are no longer the country or local places they used to be for the most part. There were no phones back when our elders told nighttime stories by the fireside; none of those people ever dreamed of a computer. Those tribes were established based on geographic locations, and shared history.
How then can Steve Lee, APR, CEO of QuickSilver Interactive assert that we live in tribes, and all thanks to social media? Social media technologies might be storytelling tools but have they don’t pull people together, they’ve pushed us apart. I Skype with my friends instead of paying them actual visits; I text them any interesting stories I have from the day, instead of sitting with them to talk, I submit reports to my boss via email. How then could Steve say that we live in tribes?
He’s right, and this PR guru and social media expert is often right about a lot of stuff (he was wrong about his baseball jersey bringing the Rangers luck if he wore it during a game). Look at the spirit of a tribe, and not necessarily the traditional aspects of it and you will make sense out of Steve’s claim. Tribes are made up of people who communicate with each other, share common interests, influence each other and who have a relationship with one another.
Who are your friends on Facebook or Twitter for example? These are people you communicate with, have a relationship with, and they are probably capable of influencing you, and vice versa. Isn’t that a tribe? The social media tribe is one modern and cool tribe. Don’t forget, you may relate to other in a tribe more than others, so even that person you added to your Facebook friends list but do not communicate with often is a member of your tribe.
I share details of my life on Facebook with my family and friends, exchange news tips on Twitter with my course mates and people who have similar interests with me, share YouTube videos with my friends, and seek for professional guidance from LinkedIn. Those are my different tribes. In it are people from my family, church, school, and even my actual traditional tribe in Cameroon. Social media tribes bring people together, and give them an opportunity to tell their stories or others stories without inconveniences.
Like Steve said, we have moved circle from the traditional tribes to the social media tribes. TV, radio, books and newspapers may attract a following, but none has as much of an impact as social media technologies do. Knowing this, it’s left for businesses to figure out how to sell their products, ideas or image using these tools. If I get an online coupon from one of my favorite stores, I am most likely to tell my social media tribal relatives, and that might influence a couple of them to patronize that store.
Social media tribes exist, and they are beneficial not only to their members, but to organizations as well. Thanks for the lesson, Steve.
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