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The temporarily pissed at Seth Godin tribe - are you in THIS tribe?
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Maybe I’m too new of a face in the blogosphere right now to be shaking my finger at an Internet icon like Seth Godin, but jeez. This might just be justified. It wasn’t long ago (yesterday) that I was completely enamored with Seth Godin. And don’t get me wrong, I still completely admire the guy. In a week, I’ll be over it and will be back to reading and enjoying everything he has to share with us. The tribe he invites people to join by buying his book just comes across as pompous and elitist to me. Which is, ironically, what he wants. That said, I’d like to invite each of you to join a new tribe; the temporarily pissed at Seth Godin tribe. This one’s free:
Are you in the tribe?
I’d like to invite you to join a members-only tribe. A tribe for people with raised eyebrows, concerned consciences and for those focused on wondering just how far marketing has to go these days.
This online community will live on all the sites we have, and will feature blogs, forums, social networking, comments, photos, videos and no, there won’t be a job board. And it’s by invitation only until whenever we’re not pissed anymore. Spots are not limited and early members get privileges and bragging rights. So will late members.
Members do not need a password and everyone has the privilege of meeting each other, posting thoughts, connecting to big ideas or projects and more. The sites will include excerpts from their authors’ feelings about Godin’s new tribe and if someone wants to create an e-book, let me know. The contents of the tribe’s forums will be posted to the public until the Internet is over, so it’s really the only way to participate until then.
Seth is launching his new book in mid-October, and as usual, is doing something different to take his own advice.
One of the ideas I have is that powerful tribes are open to everyone. The non-exclusivity makes it work. In this case, the non-exclusivity comes from two things:
1. I’m only announcing the Tribe here, and on the entire Internet. (Though it would be great with me if you want invite your friends to join, because your friends are my friends and they’ll probably appreciate an early invite).
2. You have to be committed enough to just read this and spread the word, sight fully seen (in all places for no more than $0), anytime you want. It’s not about selling more books (because this Tribe has nothing to do with a book), of course, it’s about removing all hurdles to get all people in the door.
The mechanics:
- You can be anywhere in the world, and it’s fine if you’ve already ordered a book (just return it). All you need to do is forward a copy of your own article about this tribe to your friends and other bloggers.
- You can purchase his book here: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CEO Read (but I wouldn’t recommend it), Borders or any bookstore that will give you a full refund. Remember, it’s not about selling more books. It’s not. Really. I swear it’s not.
- Return your copy of his book no later than as soon as possible to wherever you purchased it from. Be sure to include your website address in your article so your friends can help you promote it. This is the Internet, so please include anything you would like. Don’t send your info only to me, but to everyone. You know how to find me if you need anything else.
- I won’t be doing anything in batches. Membership is not numbered, and low numbers mean little less than high ones. If we get too big a response, I’ll never shut down anything. The servers will simply have to deal with it like they always have.
- After August 10th, it’s still open. I may decide to re-open the tribe a bit later, but I think that’s just silly because the tribe will really always be open.
Members of the tribe will get a chance to express how they feel about Seth’s tribe, as well as a few other goodies.
Even with just a few people in the pre-beta tribe I’ve built, I can already see how powerful it can be to have a safe, well-lit place on line where all people can connect. I hope you can join us.
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Dereck :: Jul.30.2008 :: Blogosphere, Perspectives :: 8 Comments »
8 Responses to “The temporarily pissed at Seth Godin tribe - are you in THIS tribe?”
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I think you’ve got to hand it to Seth. How do you create a buzz about your book, when you invented the IdeaVirus. It’s chutzpah! But I love your post - great satire!
@ Phil - hey thanks, glad you saw the humor in it. One of things that bugged me was that he said “this is not to sell more copies of the book, of course” which really just isn’t true. Plus, he does it on his widely trafficked blog, which thousands of people–marketers and non-marketers–frequent and serves an invitation to everyone that prohibits most of them.
Unless you buy his book.
[...] are those who did not appreciate the idea of putting pre-ordering of his own book as a pre-requisite for [...]
You got to admit the exclusivity of the tribe ignites a human characteristic that “wants what it can’t have” now that Seth has closed the opportunity to join his tribe. The trigger of the some special “in the mail” in October also kicks your curiosity into overdrive. He is a master!
[...] this tribe thing Seth is describing sounds a lot like the MLS to me all the way to the fact that some people don’t like the exclusivity or rules of the tribe and think it should be more open. Sound [...]
LOL - humorous post. But I have to agree with Phil & Picture Frame on this one: I think it was brilliant. Here’s why: I was one of the folks (suckers?) that joined his tribe. To be quite honest, I forgot that I did. But today the book arrived - not the one I paid for, but a complimentary copy to say thanks for joining in and ponying up the cash, sight unseen. In return, I got an advance copy and a request to share my paid copy when it arrives in a couple of weeks. So he just created a huge word-of-mouth marketing program for the cost of shipping those (very small!) books. I blogged about it, and I bet others will, too. Shrewd tactic to build more pre-launch buzz.
Stephanie Rogers´s last blog post..A Pleasant Surprise
My copy still hasn’t arrived but I listened to part of the audio book last night.
Seth makes great insights with this topic. It reminds me of the strategy used by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan during the build up to the most successful tribal movements we’ve witnessed. The Million Man March.
@ Everyone - There’s no question it’s brilliant. Keep in mind this was just a parody. Just me fooling around for some laughs
That said, I’ll probably be buying his book soon myself.