Yes, still thinking about the metaphor. I like “circle” because it’s an association of equals—hurrah, knights of the round table!—and circles overlap. But “tribe” is one syllable, and it acknowledges that some tribes are egalitarian and some aren’t. So I’ll keep using it until I find something better.
Must-reading for anyone who wants to share information on the web: Cory Doctorow’s 17 Tips For Getting Bloggers To Write About You .
And, last night, Emma and I were talking about comic books. She pointed out that part of Marvel’s success in the 1960s came from managing their tribe. DC was very old school; fans got a pleasant letters column. But Stan Lee named the Marvel Maniacs (with many names) and created a fan club, F.O.O.M., and did all he could to convince readers that they weren’t just comic book readers: they were Marvel Comics readers.
And that is exactly what you are doing with the Shadow Unit message board and the LJ interaction. Not only are people reading the story, they are a small part of it.
And I like the word “kindred”, but “my kindred” doesn’t roll off the tongue as well as “my tribe” does. Although I think the connotations are better.
“Kin” is nice. What’s tricky is words like kin and race suggest you either are or aren’t, while tribe or clan says you can join. A shame “peeps” won’t last, because I really am talking about my people.
Emma is absolutely right about how Stan Lee fostered a sense of community among Marvel readers which in turn encouraged brand loyalty. “Friends of Old Marvel” — a quasi-fanzine for Marvel published by Marvel itself — was only the last in a long series of efforts. There was an earlier company-run fan club, the Merry Marvel Marching Society. And even before that, Stan awarded certain inventive letter-writers the fictitious honor called a “No-Prize” when they wrote in not merely to point out goofs or continuity errors but to provide explanations of why said errors weren’t actually errors at all. (”When Betty refers to Dr. Bruce Banner as ‘Bob’ on page 11, it must mean his name is actually Robert Bruce Banner!” and that sort of thing.)
But there was one other innovation by Stan that may be relevant to the topic at hand. Writer and artist credits in comics before that point were occasional at best, and usually omitted altogether. It was difficult to have a favorite comics creator when you didn’t know who had done what. The publishers had a clearly stated policy that it was their company-owned characters that sold the issues, not the talent of any individual creator. (Occasionally, an editor might bestow printed acknowledgement on a particularly favored writer, as if it were a gift; DC editor Mort Weisinger adored Edmond Hamilton, so Hamilton was granted a published credit on his Superman stories.) Contracts ensured that the names “Bob Kane” and “Charles Moulton” were signed to all Batman and Wonder Woman stories respectively, whether or not those men had anything to do with them.
But Stan Lee elevated himself (and all other writers) and his artists to a kind of rock star status. They got prominent credits, funny nicknames, and heavy play in the letters pages and editorial text. Stan’s Bullpen Bulletins talked about Roy Thomas singing in a rock band, or Jack Kirby buying a new house, or John Romita’s new son. The Marvel creators were suddenly *people* with whom the readers could feel more personal engagement. And that’s what blogging and participating in discussions about things other than the work can do today. If it’s just self-promotion and telling the readers when the new record is coming out or answering questions about this or that story…the audience only feels advertised at. But sharing the family stuff, talking about your vacation, complaining about the kitchen renovation taking a long time — suddenly it becomes “oh yeah, my friend Will has a new book out, gotta pick that one up…” ;-)