Tribewanted entry for Broadcast Best Social Networking Site
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Bula sia from Tribewanted!
As we are a social networking tribe we thought you might like to hear from our network. Here’s my quick summary about where we started and how we have grown, and below, some comments from our brilliant tribe.
In the beginning…. April 2006
Could it be done? Could we build a social network and then give it a real space somewhere in the world? Could we build a place where those who met online could call home? Could we do it on a desert island while developing a model for engaging sustainable tourism? Could this social network, this Tribe, discuss and decide how to achieve these goals? We didn’t know the answers but the idea was too powerful to resist.
On April 3rd 2006, an eight page website called Tribewanted.com was launched. It simply asked, ‘would you like to join the Tribe?’
Turns out, they did. Within days, us “Tribies” had our faces and mission plastered across the British media as people started to take the leap – putting their money (£120 upwards) where their dreams were. The Tribe was born.
Building Paradise – online & off
Then came the real challenge: turning ideas into reality. Tribewanted started online as just a simple forum and began discussing the core challenges of building a village from scratch on a desert island.
The Tribe voted for our first ‘chiefs’ – each month a new one being elected from the online community to help lead the project on the island. The Tribe was buzzing and by the middle of May, peaking at 7000 unique visits a day.
Despite the media credibility, the Tribe faced accusations of the whole project being a scam. The online bubble burst and the Tribe quickly lost momentum. The Tribies stayed committed, however, and on September 1st, 2006, 13 ‘first footers’ landed on Vorovoro, our desert island in Fiji, as documented on the cover of the National Geographic.
Tribewanted Today
Since then, the Tribe has faced countless challenges both on-island and on-line, each making the bond of the Tribal network stronger. Today, the Tribe is an online community of nearing 8000 members, 500 of whom visited Vorovoro in the first year and a half.
The Tribe is more than the typical online social network because it’s also a real-world social network that’s as international and cross-cultural as the internet itself. Tribewanted.com has the typical offerings of a social network – profile pages, forums, blogs, photo sharing, and friend connecting. It also has something more: a digital democracy that’s more than just voting. It’s an online debate, it’s education, and it’s knowledge sharing that reinforces the same things happening in Vorovoro.
Tribewanted.com is more than just the discussions about composting and water catchment; it’s actually making a different in the world, with everything from the preservation of native Fijian culture, to knowledge generation about sustainable rural and urban living, to changing people’s lives. We’re already up to six engagements on the island, and with 100,000+ visitors coming to Tribewanted.com in the first three months of 2008, the Tribe is able to share this knowledge, the Fijian culture, the stories of individual members, experiences of sustainable living, and this adventure with people around the world.
The Tribe’s local impact is growing as well. An average of $23,000FJD (£7,000) is spent per month running the project in Fiji, with the Fijians starting to lead the development of Vorovoro. In October last year a fishermen called Peter who worked with us on Vorovoro sadly passed away. The response online was fantastic and at his funeral we were able to present not only financial donations to his family but letters, emails and blogs from Tribe members around the world, some who had never met him. Peter, although he never realised it, had played his part in a global social network.
The beauty of Tribewanted is the depth of the social network. Strong friendships are being made. Adventures are being had. And somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, a small community on a desert island is demonstrating how technology can cross boundaries to empower and unite people across the globe to make a positive impact.
Tribewanted Tomorrow
The focus is on Vorovoro:
- To cherish and nurture land, the locals, and the culture which all play host to Tribewanted
- To build a stronger social network for more effectively recording and teaching the lessons of low-impact living
- To run professionally produced Tribewanted.tv (the BBC covered year one!)
Beyond Vorovoro the Tribe can now look at how these ideas might be explored further. For us, the adventure has only just begun…
Comments
An amazing original idea, executed by new technology,leading to cultural education, also eco reform and sustainability.
A total life changing experience.
A total life changing experience
OOPS last line should only be once, can this be edited Aaron?
This is an awe inspiring idea translated into the real world. I have been a member only since March, but already I have met two other tribe members, taken part in Earth Hour, learnt so much about eco living, and am planning to attend one or two “Tribe Wanted on Tour” events in the UK, as well as having booked my time on the island to be part of the real world community. Tribewanted allows not only online networking, but also joining up in the real world, in a truly “social” sense! No other social networking site I have joined has ever had such an impact.
Could it be done… a resounding yes to all! I joined at the beginning of the year and was delighted at the warm welcome i received and friendships i have made. I will be visiting Vorovoro in oct and can’t wait to take part. I have learnt a lot from TW about sustainable living and enjoy participating online.
An innovative idea realised through a lot of hard work and faith. Well done guys.
The way that Tribewanted has taken the concept of social networking to a level as of yet unmatched by other (more traditional) social websites is quite amazing.
Unlike other social network sites TW has a specific goal at its kernel – provision of a real life environment within which members are able to directly participate at their own comfort level.
I am personally aware of many [active] Tribewanted members to whom the concept of websites built on the “Facebook” model would discourage involvement.
The way that Tribewanted has encouraged the participation of peeps who would not have given any consideration to joining a more traditional social networking website should send a strong message to operators of what could now be considered old fashioned social networking infrastructures.
Go Ben, your / our entry should certainly generate some interest.
Ideas becoming reality…a good model for millions..those who dare, can. People with their hearts and heads in the right place can still make a difference on this earth – the Tribe is bringing together likeminded people from everywhere to share in a new world concept of travel and awareness of the sacredness of each and every indigenous culture, of preserving the precious natural environment. Everyday. Online. On Vorovoro. Vinaka vaka levu Mark and Ben…and those who have followed
Tribewanted has been an amazing challenge that has changed my views of humanity completely. We are all connected in myriads of ways all over the globe and we miss that in daily local life. Tribewanted online re-engages a sense of global connectivity to address real world solutions to climate change, regardless of what the politicians differ about.
The forums have taught me to think before I type and take a deep breath before post a comment, other social sites haven’t given me a focus of purpose. Vinaka to Tui Mali, Ulai, and all of the people of Mali for working with us on this project. Most importantly they are sharing their culture and environment, which are beautiful and unique and need to be protected from climate change.
What I have loved about TW since it started was that it turned all the ideas about what social networking wasd about on its head. Yes, it connected people all over the world via the internet – but then it brought them all together too, in the real world, so that strong, physical bonds of friendship could be built, not just the impersonal, weak bonds that most social networks create. Yes, it involved chatting and posting and blogging, and a lot of froth and gossip – but underlying it all was a serious reason for it to exist, a reason that made a huge difference in the real world, not just the virtual one.
Social networking is one of the boom industries of the digital age – but much of it feels trite and insubstantial. To create a social network and give it purpose and real, physical substance takes vision and courage. Ben and Mark had both, and thanks be for that.
What has been amazing about Tribewanted IS the social networking. We all knew from the beginning it was about building an online community and a real life community on Vorovoro but I never imagined the real life community and friendships around the world.
There have been tribal gatherings in Toronto, Chicago, LA, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Scotland and England. They have included monthly meetings to welcome newbies, a survival weekend, camping weekends, First Footers party, picnics in the park, a Christmas party weekend, city weekends and many more.
The friendships formed have been amazing: people from all walks of life, cultural backgrounds, and all different ages, all getting along well with just one thing in common: membership of Tribewanted.
Travelling partners have been found as members hook up to backpack together.
Love partners have been found: members falling in love at tribal gatherings or around the fire at Vorovoro.
Vorovoro has prompted engagements and weddings – we’ve had more success than Blind Date.
And couch-surfing has been another outcome as members travel the world and stay with other members. Over two years we have had about 20 different members come stay at our house, including one of the Fijian team.
And lastly, the social networking with the Fijian community on Vorovoro and the Fijian community at large. Tribewanted has created such strong links with the people in Fiji, that all those who have been to Vorovoro know that they have a social connection with Fiji forever, as we are all now part of the Mali family.
What is totally awesome is that we WON!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!
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