Chris Brogan: What Nine Inch Nails Knows About Tribes
HippyGourmet
· 8 months ago
Great list Chris!
A lot can be learned from the Hippies (both older and younger) who have always championed the tribe philosophy and local community organizing.
Now that Matt Lauer is no longer doing his travel series, it's fun to see where you're off to next!
Cheers! James
frank
· 8 months ago
WOW ... that is a great move and interesting to see a music group pull it off. I wouldn't think this would even be on their radar. HUGE kudos for being a front runner in this space. Now i want to see NIN do a Tweetup ... once that happens Twitter has arrived :)
Location based and community building ... very cool. Chris what i really appreciate about reading posts like this is the fact that it makes me think about my own business/customers. I always get new ideas, insight and inspiration.
Chris ... really ... this is another post that makes me think about uses for things like this in the nonprofit space. What type of organization, event, cause do you think this type of app could work with? where would it have some legs?
Chris, nice breakdown for folks that are interested in starting out their own community. TReznor has been experimental with his music and technology, that goes w/o saying and I would say the guy will continue to tap whatever new comes along. My only wish is that he releases Strobe Light the April Fool's album though :) http://www.nin.com/strobelight/
Greg "The Undead Rat" Fisher
· 8 months ago
What a great post, Chris. I read Tribes several times (listening to it on MP3) and I think I got it, but your post illuminated a direction to take. The tribe I want to help are readers of horror fiction. The publisher of Delirium Book (an independent horror publisher) and creator of the Horror Mall (an online seller of horror books, DVDs and ebooks) recently created The Haunt -- like a simplified MySpace for horror enthusiasts. That's a community and a tribe -- and I've been wondering if someone should step up and lead them. Your post has given me something to think about. --Greg
Andrew Lightheart @alightheart
· 8 months ago
One of things that stand out here is the need for a community to care about each other.
And (noticing my Twitter Tribe - which isn't everyone I follow) that can grow from regular contact with people.
I also agree that some leadership can be really important - people are so busy that there needs to be some forward-moving energy to keep momentum going against the natural inertia of daily life.
Jacquelyn Pierce
· 8 months ago
Great stuff Chris, thanks for the insight! Fundamentally people want to connect and are motivated by like-mindedness or pain. It's the human element that gives us the true high of connection. Technology should be the vehicle not the destination.
Brandon Chesnutt
· 8 months ago
Chris,
This is awesome list of tips for those seeking to build, empower, inspire and grow a new community. It is also a great complement to the advice you gave me at #module09: gather and collaborate, learn everything you can and then embed that knowledge within other groups.
We have a lot of passionate people here in Detroit with a lot of great ideas. Hopefully by the next time you pay us a visit, our own "roadmap" will be in place.
And I'm glad you checked out the NIN app! When I first saw the demo, I knew it would be something special...and not just because I love Nine Inch Nails.
One other thing to note: the app is FREE!
siobhan bulfin
· 8 months ago
thanks Chris. You sure have a tribe now and it's successful because you empower it everyday with a post of value with insights which stem from an inquiring mind, unblinkered vision and a desire to draw the best out of your readers and enable them to succeed despite their means. Bravo to you. And amen to technology which has allowed us to access mentors, information and opportunities our parents could only have dreamed of.
English prog rock band Marillion have been doing something similar too. Check out the Marillion Convention idea where the band comandeers an entire holiday camp site (such as Butlins) for their devoted fans to enjoy a whole weekend of performances: http://www.marillion.com/
Jamie Lee
· 8 months ago
If Chris Brogan were a rock band, I'd be a groupie. :)
I can relate to the feeling of trying to get a community to stand on its own ... to set it up with the members and tools needed to keep it self-generating ... and then to watch it fizzle out like a pathetic little campfire in the middle of a "Survivor" hurricane. So sad. So frustrating.
Your shared realization that each "tribe" or community needs a leader is especially enlightening for me. There are some user-generated communities that take on a life of their own, but for the most part a community isn't something you can start up and walk away from - it's an extension of your passion and it needs to feed off your passion to stay alive.
Some other things I would consider when starting a community: * Research where potential members of your tribe might be hanging out now - get a feel for what's already available to these people ...and what's missing * Create an "elevator pitch"-like summary of what your community is all about. Although this can be modified as your tribe and reason for existence evolves, it's important for you (and "your people") to have a clear vision of what your tribe is all about - it helps to make the group more cohesive. * In addition to the URL, set up a twitter profile and maybe a facebook page - both places can be great ways to recruit and keep in touch with members. * Think about ways you can give back. If you're about equestrian sports, maybe help support an equine rescue; if your about literature, maybe support a literary grant program. Giving back is a great bonding tool for groups large and small ... and it's good karma and a great use of social tools. :)
These spill over into the "encourage participation" area, but have bearing on your community set-up. * Make it EASY for people to engage - consider polls and other "quickie" response items to get people involved right away. * Make sure you have a way to RSS (or otherwise publish) community activity to people's readers and/or email ... and then encourage them to use it.
And now I'm going to shut my trap. ;) Thanks for another great post, Chris. Have a GREAT Friday!
Jess
· 8 months ago
I agree. NIN has been ahead of the curve for a very long time with many innovative community building efforts. What makes them different isnt really the tech, like you said, but its the care they have for their own community and how they want to foster it to grow on its own.
If the music industry hopes to survive it needs to think this way. It cant continue to manipulate artists, contracts and consumers to wring every last cent of profit for themselves. Its not a secret that artists have had a bum deal, but by creating these mobile and social communities, Reznor has brought to light the manipulation of the consumer - something the less powerful or savvy artist may have no control over.
Its great that someone like NIN, with such a cult following, who dont have to be thoughtful of fans are really the ones taking on this type of politics. Tori Amos is another example, but more focused on innovative limited offerings (comic books, art, etc.).
And that was my music industry soap box. Sorry! As always, loved the post. :)
@jesskry
Anja Merret
· 8 months ago
This is powerful marketing stuff. The music industry should be sitting up, taking note and being even more scared.
Maikel van de Mortel
· 8 months ago
Chris,
Some great insights you are sharing with your own tribe. Love the checklist and think you are spot on. Keep up the great work.
@MaikelvandeMort
Nicholas Chase
· 8 months ago
Chris,
Reminds me of the story about the band, Linkin' Park and their web success.
Mike Shinoda at BlogWorld Expo 2008 Keynote with Timothy Ferris and Rohit Bhargava stated that Twitter and MySpace were the cause of Linkin' Park receiving a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records.
Mike stated that their fans put so much pressure on Warner's they had to sign up the band. He also stated that you can now distribute your own music and do not need a recording contract at all!
NOTE: (They named the band Linkin' Park after Lincoln Park in East Los Angeles CA, and Lincoln Park had already been taken!).
Great story about NIN, a talented band using technology to connect with people, a theme you have consistently forwarded, it's about the people!
My husband was showing me their app last night. It is very sleek and well thought out. I imagine we will see similar apps hitting the mobile market soon. This one is brilliant.
Daniel Edlen
· 8 months ago
Empowering fan-to-fan interaction is exactly what I want my art to lead to, my way of taking over the world, connecting people with their music, their culture, and their humanity.
For all the things going wrong within the music industry, NIN has been THE beacon of light that every music executive should be paying attention too. Just another good reason why I love NIN.
Love it, and what a great post!!
Bill Gibeault
· 8 months ago
Chris, I enjoyed reading your post as well as the ideas of others who contributed. Great Stuff ! Love the community check list as it provokes more creative thinking on my part. An important component to building any great community is storytelling. Sharing your own personal story to start this post drew a YEA! from me. Finally love discussion on LEADERSHIP. Technology is cool, a critical tool etc. but in the end we are trying to influence and in some cases lead people. That involves emotional intelligence part of transformational leadership. Thanks Bill
Leviathant
· 8 months ago
It's not a tweet-up per se, but I know a few of us who are using the NIN:Access app in the Philly area are getting together for drinks tonight.
Drew Griffin
· 8 months ago
Chris, Thank you for your thoughts on Tribes. I just started to read Seth's book myself. I am interested in the brightkite / location based app myself for a Tribe I am leading. How can I get that done? Looking forward to reading your Blog daily, and will forward to all of my colleagues. have a great weekend.
Drew Griffin
Rodrigo Jaroszewski
· 8 months ago
I believe that the NIN case is really one to study throughoutly. Reznor said himself he makes way more money doing shows than selling albums, so all of his efforts are obviously directed at making his public grow. While most bands would make sure they shut down projects like http://thisoneisonus.org (a community-created DVD), they actually increased the ammount of material people have available to work with.
Increasing the band's exposure with minimum expendure is what's making NIN thrive. They couldn't do it without this tribe Trent created around him.
Kikolani
· 8 months ago
Nine Inch Nails has always been a step ahead of the game, in my opinion, of rallying their fans together on the internet. Long before forums were popular, they had a very unique forum, and then they had their access site. So it doesn't surprise me that they have come out with this. They are great at keeping fans up to date with the latest technology.
~ Kristi
Mark Dyck
· 8 months ago
Thanks too for sharing a learning from Tribes. Leaders really do need to lead. I'm involved in a couple communities where my role is to politely jab, cajole, nudge and otherwise get people in the group to interact and build things. Without the leader actually leading, it fades.
I used to wonder whether the community was 'worth it' if it didn't take off on its own accord, without leaders keeping things moving. These days I'm thinking more that the leader is a required part of the equation.
Jonathan "not the cookie lady'
· 8 months ago
Sweet niblets, Chris! How many great realizations can you sneak into one post?
I have to agree, as much as some recent noise is being made about how minimally important the leader is to established organizations, I'm still not convinced. My personal experience starting, running and trying to hand-off companies and observations (spelled "Apple, Nike & Starbucks") tell me otherwise.
And, yup, I'm really excited to see how apps that enable likeminded people to spontaneously congregate will change the dynamic of tribe-building and afford crowdsourced deputization of local tribe sub-leaders.
Lee Jarvis
· 8 months ago
NiN have always been pushing the new music business model forward, and I've always been a fan of Renor's actions (many a blog post here - http://www.leejarvis.blogspot.com).
Nice of you to bring his good work to an audience here, Chris, and it could certainly be applied to many a business or community in other areas. If there were a few more influential people in the music industry who thought the same as Reznor then maybe it wouldn't be in such a mess right now!
tojosan
· 8 months ago
These are good community basics, well applied by NIN. How quickly we overlook thins like this. Heck, even for a personal brand, making it easy for your fans to find each other and connect and share is key.
All Comments
A lot can be learned from the Hippies (both older and younger) who have always championed the tribe philosophy and local community organizing.
Now that Matt Lauer is no longer doing his travel series, it's fun to see where you're off to next!
Cheers!
James
Location based and community building ... very cool. Chris what i really appreciate about reading posts like this is the fact that it makes me think about my own business/customers. I always get new ideas, insight and inspiration.
Chris ... really ... this is another post that makes me think about uses for things like this in the nonprofit space. What type of organization, event, cause do you think this type of app could work with? where would it have some legs?
http://twitter.com/franswaa
--Greg
And (noticing my Twitter Tribe - which isn't everyone I follow) that can grow from regular contact with people.
I also agree that some leadership can be really important - people are so busy that there needs to be some forward-moving energy to keep momentum going against the natural inertia of daily life.
This is awesome list of tips for those seeking to build, empower, inspire and grow a new community. It is also a great complement to the advice you gave me at #module09: gather and collaborate, learn everything you can and then embed that knowledge within other groups.
We have a lot of passionate people here in Detroit with a lot of great ideas. Hopefully by the next time you pay us a visit, our own "roadmap" will be in place.
And I'm glad you checked out the NIN app! When I first saw the demo, I knew it would be something special...and not just because I love Nine Inch Nails.
One other thing to note: the app is FREE!
Bravo to you. And amen to technology which has allowed us to access mentors, information and opportunities our parents could only have dreamed of.
Siobhan Bulfin
Wellington, New Zealand
http://12for12k.org
Everybody wins.
English prog rock band Marillion have been doing something similar too. Check out the Marillion Convention idea where the band comandeers an entire holiday camp site (such as Butlins) for their devoted fans to enjoy a whole weekend of performances: http://www.marillion.com/
I can relate to the feeling of trying to get a community to stand on its own ... to set it up with the members and tools needed to keep it self-generating ... and then to watch it fizzle out like a pathetic little campfire in the middle of a "Survivor" hurricane. So sad. So frustrating.
Your shared realization that each "tribe" or community needs a leader is especially enlightening for me. There are some user-generated communities that take on a life of their own, but for the most part a community isn't something you can start up and walk away from - it's an extension of your passion and it needs to feed off your passion to stay alive.
Some other things I would consider when starting a community:
* Research where potential members of your tribe might be hanging out now - get a feel for what's already available to these people ...and what's missing
* Create an "elevator pitch"-like summary of what your community is all about. Although this can be modified as your tribe and reason for existence evolves, it's important for you (and "your people") to have a clear vision of what your tribe is all about - it helps to make the group more cohesive.
* In addition to the URL, set up a twitter profile and maybe a facebook page - both places can be great ways to recruit and keep in touch with members.
* Think about ways you can give back. If you're about equestrian sports, maybe help support an equine rescue; if your about literature, maybe support a literary grant program. Giving back is a great bonding tool for groups large and small ... and it's good karma and a great use of social tools. :)
These spill over into the "encourage participation" area, but have bearing on your community set-up.
* Make it EASY for people to engage - consider polls and other "quickie" response items to get people involved right away.
* Make sure you have a way to RSS (or otherwise publish) community activity to people's readers and/or email ... and then encourage them to use it.
And now I'm going to shut my trap. ;)
Thanks for another great post, Chris. Have a GREAT Friday!
I've been thinking about NIN, the music industry and its death, and social media. Here's a couple posts. http://jesskrywosa.wordpress.com/tag/nin/
If the music industry hopes to survive it needs to think this way. It cant continue to manipulate artists, contracts and consumers to wring every last cent of profit for themselves. Its not a secret that artists have had a bum deal, but by creating these mobile and social communities, Reznor has brought to light the manipulation of the consumer - something the less powerful or savvy artist may have no control over.
Its great that someone like NIN, with such a cult following, who dont have to be thoughtful of fans are really the ones taking on this type of politics. Tori Amos is another example, but more focused on innovative limited offerings (comic books, art, etc.).
And that was my music industry soap box. Sorry! As always, loved the post. :)
@jesskry
Some great insights you are sharing with your own tribe. Love the checklist and think you are spot on. Keep up the great work.
@MaikelvandeMort
Reminds me of the story about the band, Linkin' Park and their web success.
Mike Shinoda at BlogWorld Expo 2008 Keynote with Timothy Ferris and Rohit Bhargava stated that Twitter and MySpace were the cause of Linkin' Park receiving a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records.
Mike stated that their fans put so much pressure on Warner's they had to sign up the band. He also stated that you can now distribute your own music and do not need a recording contract at all!
NOTE: (They named the band Linkin' Park after Lincoln Park in East Los Angeles CA, and Lincoln Park had already been taken!).
Great story about NIN, a talented band using technology to connect with people, a theme you have consistently forwarded, it's about the people!
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase
www.twitter.com/nachase
My husband was showing me their app last night. It is very sleek and well thought out. I imagine we will see similar apps hitting the mobile market soon. This one is brilliant.
Peace.
You should check out our Group Blogging Project that we're doing covering Tribes: http://churchcrunch.com/2009/04/13/tribes-a-gro...
Love it, and what a great post!!
I enjoyed reading your post as well as the ideas of others who contributed. Great Stuff ! Love the community check list as it provokes more creative thinking on my part. An important component to building any great community is storytelling. Sharing your own personal story to start this post drew a YEA! from me. Finally love discussion on LEADERSHIP. Technology is cool, a critical tool etc. but in the end we are trying to influence and in some cases lead people. That involves emotional intelligence part of transformational leadership. Thanks
Bill
Thank you for your thoughts on Tribes. I just started to read Seth's book myself. I am interested in the brightkite / location based app myself for a Tribe I am leading. How can I get that done? Looking forward to reading your Blog daily, and will forward to all of my colleagues. have a great weekend.
Drew Griffin
Increasing the band's exposure with minimum expendure is what's making NIN thrive. They couldn't do it without this tribe Trent created around him.
~ Kristi
I used to wonder whether the community was 'worth it' if it didn't take off on its own accord, without leaders keeping things moving. These days I'm thinking more that the leader is a required part of the equation.
I have to agree, as much as some recent noise is being made about how minimally important the leader is to established organizations, I'm still not convinced. My personal experience starting, running and trying to hand-off companies and observations (spelled "Apple, Nike & Starbucks") tell me otherwise.
And, yup, I'm really excited to see how apps that enable likeminded people to spontaneously congregate will change the dynamic of tribe-building and afford crowdsourced deputization of local tribe sub-leaders.
Nice of you to bring his good work to an audience here, Chris, and it could certainly be applied to many a business or community in other areas. If there were a few more influential people in the music industry who thought the same as Reznor then maybe it wouldn't be in such a mess right now!
What about your brand Chris?