Tribal network effects are another of what we call “social” network effects, joining the three other social nfx we’ve identified: Bandwagon, Language, and Belief. This is because they exist in the minds of people and not in data and wires. The unique attribute of Tribal network effects is that they exist because of how people form their identities around (no surprise)… tribes.
This fits into some of our thinking about how Fission can power 1000s of apps for tribes, where every tribe on a platform will want to personalize and customize.
Or, down to the individual as part of a tribe. App/website as profile, and a way to show the links between a tribe. Yes, webring! – but also mini social networks.
- Think about markets as tribes. Which tribes are you drawing your customers and employees from? The more customers you win in one tribe, such as Lyft getting more customers in the Boston tribe, the more that tribe will hear about you and trust you, lowering your CAC and increasing retention. The more employees you hire from the Notre Dame tribe, the more Notre Dame alumni you will have access to.
I think we’re thinking about front end frameworks / programming languages as tribes – React, Elm, Vue, TypeScript etc etc