Tribes, clans and totems

Now that my new edited volume 'Connected Minds, Emerging Cultures' has finally hit the bookstore shelves, I have a little time to reflect on the contents of the 17 chapters, by 19 authors. Over the next week or so, I will post up some (very brief) excerpts from the book and add some of my own post-publication commentary. As I do, I hope that you will respond with some of your own comments and views, so that we can promote some new debates right here, right now.

Now I have the final version of the book in my sticky little mitts, I've been revisiting one of my own chapters, entitled 'Digital Tribes, Virtual Clans', (Google Books has partial content here) a contribution which in retrospect could be considered quite a bold one. In Chapter 6, I take the reader on a tour through what I consider to be a number of 'virtual clans' within the 'Internet Tribe', and argue that these clans are emerging as a direct result of sustained interaction through social networking tools and other technology mediated communication. I argue that as clans (e.g. Flickrites or Facebookers) become more specialised, the generation of their artefacts becomes more pronounced. One of my favourite sections in the chapter reads:

Each clan ... has a totem, a symbol that represents it and distinguishes it from other, possibly rival, clans. In primitive clans, the totem was often a representation of an animal or tree. Durkheim suggests it is easier for clan members to project their feelings of awe toward a totem than toward something as complex as the clan itself. For ... virtual clans, their totems - the traditional rallying points for all tribal activity - are patently the social networking tools within the World Wide Web. Not only are these digital spaces objects of intense interest and rallying points for the clans, they also act as transmitters of units of cultural knowledge (p. 67).

I would be interested to hear how other people perceive social networking services, and whether subtle differences can be detected in the way people generate their content, represent themselves and interact with others. Flickrites, Twits, Plurkers, Facebookers, Myspacers, Beboids, etc. Are the social networks acting as totems, or am I ...um.... barking up the wrong tree? (Image source: daltontrail.com)