I’m eagerly awaiting my copy of Seth Godin’s new book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. In the meantime, Seth notes that today is the official pub day and points us to a free download of the accompanying e-book.

The Tribes Casebook was created by members of Triiibes, the international social networking community Seth launched just over two months ago to “demo” (that’s my interpretation, not his stated goal) his book. I was lucky enough to get an invitation to join but confess to not having been nearly active enough.

With over 3,500 members (all marketers) the online community has been a continuous explosion of ideas, groups, causes and collaborative projects. I’ve been amazed at the quality of the conversations when I’ve dipped in for a look.

Three things are notable about the e-book:

  • Hundreds of volunteer members of Triibes worked on it; dozens of mini case studies are included. It’s very much a collaborative project and exemplifies what a “Tribe” can do.
     
  • At 248 pages it’s longer than the book itself (which is 160 pages). Somewhere Seth said he wished the book were longer shorter – ! I’ll try and find the link.
     
  • The contributions (which include case studies as well as “irrelevant asides, links to fascinating information, black holes and time wasters,” in Seth’s words), are from all over the globe and span an astounding array of topics. Small sampling: Arabic language chat, Brits who live in Australia, the Edinburgh World Rugby Festival, Pecha Kucha, Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Yoruba (Nigeria) Boys Club, and on and on.

Rock on, Seth.

Side note: I am proud to be a charter member of the D.C. Triiibes group. We’re 17 strong (who knew?!) as I write and having our first meet-up in a few weeks thanks to fellow DC-ite Jeremy Epstein.