The Third Tribe was a collaboration between Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan, Brian Clark and Sonia Simone. Add other Third Tribers like Chris Garrett, Jonathan Fields, Hugh MacLeod, Mark McGuinness, Leo Babauta, Pam Slim, Naomi Dunford, Johnny Truant and Dave Navarro and you get an impressive set up.

I rarely join courses or forum on the internet because they mostly feel off target for me. The concept of The Third Tribe feels right though and many in the list of names above are people whose blogs I follow. I have signed up and joined The Third Tribe, it will be very interesting to see what comes out of this.

What’s the Third Tribe?
This definition comes from the introduction at The Third Tribe:

Over the last several years, online marketing has been split into two opposing teams. Two tribes, if you will.

One tribe is called the Internet Marketers. They use aggressive hype and obnoxious tactics to fool people into believing there really is a “get rich quick” magic bullet.

The other tribe is the Social Media Cool Kids. They reject hype and aggressive sales tactics in favor of relationships, community, and value . . . and yet seem to have taken a vow of poverty along the way.

The black and white division of online marketing into two tribes is not real. There’s a big (and growing) middle tribe, one that avoids spammy IM approaches while having no problem asking for the sale and making money. This is the Third Tribe.

What do I think about Inside Third Tribe?
The Third Tribe is an interesting and great concept:

The Third Tribe is a private community where like-minded people help each other out. It’s based on a combination of education and interaction that takes everyone’s Internet marketing skills to a higher level.

The education part so far contains The Quick Start Guide to Making Money Online with Johnny Truant and interviews on Building a Business around a Blog with Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse and Brian Clark. The forums are active and people willingly share their experience. In short, it’s great value for money if you’re set on improving your Internet marketing skills.

Third Tribe Marketing has started an affiliate program that’s only open to members. That’s professional, only members know the value of what they are promoting.

If it’s that great, why do I leave?
One of my goals for 2010 was to take my blogging and Internet marketing skills up a notch (or more), to make it more professional. Those who follow my blogs might have noticed that it did not turn out well, posts have been random and I don’t blog on a regular basis.

I have realized that the aim of becoming more professional as blogger turned writing into a must, at the level of dusting my apartment, instead of something I want to do and love to do. My solution is to remove pressure, scratching the goal as blogger and to focus on bringing the fun back to my writing. I leave Third Tribe Marketing because it does not suit me now, where I am with my blogging and where I want to go in the near future.

This post was updated March 7, 2010.