Tribe.net

tribe.net (often shortened to "tribe") is a website that hosts an online community of friends, similar to Orkut or Friendster. The site name is always spelled in all lower case.

Anyone may register as a new tribe user, and may then define his or her immediate network of friends, either by choosing from existing members or by inviting new members to join. Each of these users may in turn define their own network of friends. (This process results in a type of user-driven viral marketing on behalf of tribe.net.) As more and more people and their friends join tribe, it results in an elaborate social network with many thousands of members. tribe users leverage the small world phenomenon as a way to enhance their own immediate social network. As of March 2004, the population of tribe was skewed heavily towards people living in the San Francisco Bay Area, though the geographic distribution is gradually normalizing as people from other places join. As of June 2005 it had over 300,000 members.

tribe.net features many "tribes," a kind of topical forum. A new tribe may be created by any registered user. When a user creates a new tribe, that user is the moderator of the tribe. Any user may in principle join any tribe, although some tribes are private or require permission from the moderator to join. In addition to threaded messages, members can use tribes to announce upcoming parties, concerts, business icebreakers, or other events easily and reach select audiences. Currently there are thousands of tribes, with more being added daily.

The company behind tribe.net is privately owned, financed largely with venture capital. tribe has partnered with the Washington Post and Knight Ridder.

In a controversial move, on December 20, 2005, tribe.net decided to prohibit sexually explicit content, partially in response to the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act. Coincidentally, shortly before the rule change, tribe.net hired a new CEO, who was a regular Christian churchgoer, and somewhat socially conservative. This move disappointed many users, as tribe to that point had been notable for an exceptionally permissive content policy.

On January 19th, 2006 tribe.net changed its layout and user interface (UI). The management of tribe.net claimed that they received approximately 40% positive feedback during a small beta phase with 3000 users (a relatively small percentage of their user base). A large and outspoken group of current members of tribe have repeatedly expressed that the new design, layout, and overall feel of the new website go against many of their original reasons for joining the site. tribe's original "grassroots" approach to member-based forum monitoring and the focus of many tribe.net participants on alternative lifestyles and the arts was appealing to those who found other sites like MySpace or Friendster to be rather broad-based and commercial.

On August 31, 2006, former CEO Mark Pincus announced that he was "taking back tribe." He did this through a public listing on the site.

tribe.net has repeatedly stated that they have no intention of reverting to the previous look or interface of the site. However on September 21, 2006 Tribe posted an announcement on their website that the revised interface was suspended in favor of an easier and more customizable user interface. One of the splash pages showed the website's logo dripping blood, and declared that the employee designers were taking over the site now that "the stuffy CEO was no longer with the company."

tribe.net is still down and has no answers as to when the service will be back up. The "Donut freak out" message is still in place and the site still says it is away having breakfast. Calls to the parent company of tribe.net reveal nothing.

See also

• List of social networking websites

External links

• tribe.net website
• tribe listing in which Marc Pincus announces he is "taking back tribe"
• A recent OnlinePersonalsWatch.com interview with tribe.net's former less-than-beloved CEO , Jan Gullett
• A photo of tribe.net's former CEO, Jan Gullet