6Tribes is a new social networking app for iOS launching in the UK today. It’s made up of ‘tribes’ based on interests and lifestyles that you can join accordingly.
Anthony Rose, CEO of 6Tribes told TNW:
We created 6Tribes to connect people with groups of like-minded folk, or tribes, which reflect their life choices… 6Tribes helps you find your tribe.
When you sign up for 6Tribes, it analyzes what you’ve liked on Facebook, the music on your phone and places you’ve traveled in order to suggest tribes that might be of interest to you.
Rather than having one large community, there are already over 100 interest-based tribes with something for everyone, from ‘Wanderlusters’ to Cycle Citizens.’
Within each tribe you can share your ideas and post original content or articles and images you’ve found online. Similar to Reddit, you can ‘upvote’ a post to show you’ve enjoyed it and it’s worth checking out.
One draw for 6Tribes might be that when you post on the app, it isn’t public by default; anything you say stays within whatever tribe you post in.
However, if you do want to share something beyond 6Tribes, it’s possible to share to existing social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as via Messenger, text message and email.
If none of the tribes on offer are your cup of tea, you can create your own. You and the other members of your tribe can work together to collate content on a shared homescreen. 6Tribes will also analyze your friends list on Facebook to suggest people who might be suitable for your tribe.
There are already numerous interest-based social networks. Pinterest is an example of how they can work. It’s quite open by nature but you can choose to follow people with similar interests or just boards of specific ideas like home decoration, cooking, mechanics, photography, etc.
Whyttle in the US is an example of something very similar to 6Tribes that doesn’t seem to have gained momentum since it launched last year. That being said, it is only a year old, so there’s still time for it to grow.
The idea of tribes and building communities based on shared interests goes back millions of years in human history. However, taking that concept and applying it to a new-age social network is interesting.
If 6Tribes takes off successfully, it will pave the way for the rest, as well as conquering what Facebook’s Groups never managed to pull off.
As with any new social network though, getting people to abandon the old or at least consider the new is always going to be difficult, especially when it is only available on iOS and only in the UK at the moment.
The company has said it is expanding to other cities and you can sign up on its site to be notified when your city has been included.
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