October 04, 2003
More thoughts on Urban Tribes
A post to the Many to Many weblog about how Friendster relies on Urban Tribes got me thinking. I tried posting this as a comment there, but there was an error. So I'm posting it here:
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As the author of the scathing review, I feel it's worth mentioning that I agree with danah that Friendster's bread-and-butter are those who belong to "urban tribes." Actually, the Friendster/Urban Tribes cross is a potentially rich field for exploration of this emerging social group. I'm thinking of a sociological/anthropological discussion of how social software mediates and extends the interactions of these folks. Is it coincidence that Urban Tribes emerged as a force at around the same time as the internet took off? How has email, IM, and now systems like Friendster promoted the development of Urban Tribes?
