I understand the tendency.
You put out a free thing. People sign up. You think you've got a tribe. But you don't.
You have rallied people who want a free thing.
It's an insincere tribe.
I'm interested in finding a sincere tribe. People who are like minded, who have the same collective purpose. People who aren't compelled by freebies but by a cause, a community, a life-altering vision. A fraternity of friends...
Where 10 years from now, everyone looks at us and says, "How did those people happen to know each other way back when?"
Great post Ben. Many people (myself at times as well) also think that if you pay people to work for you, that it means they are loyal to your tribe (cause/goal/organization/idea). But that is often not a true sincere tribe either. A determining characteristic of a person who is truly committed to the tribe (cause/goal/organization/idea) is behavior based on what they will DO FOR the the tribe for free, rather than what they will GET FROM the tribe for free. A true tribe committed to a goal regardless of the cost is a rare thing of beauty and power. I only know of a few...
Posted by: Kduggleby | July 26, 2011 at 02:15 PM
that is seriously good stuff. very well said.
Posted by: Ben Arment | July 26, 2011 at 02:39 PM
Love this!
Posted by: Douglas Young | July 26, 2011 at 03:04 PM
I'm in :)
Posted by: mo | July 28, 2011 at 04:32 PM
Well said. I just wrote a post in this direction about Followers vs Fans. Maybe I should have includes "Friends" too since friends are even more relational than followers.
Social Media sort of has a lot of people consumed by the numbers. Instead of building something they are okay with collecting fans.
I see both sides.
Posted by: Daniel Decker | July 29, 2011 at 04:46 PM