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A few weeks ago, I got an invite to join Triberr.com.

I was suspicious at first because the invite came through a Direct Message on Twitter, but I spoke to the invite-r and figured I had been the specific intended recipient.

I blundered around the site blindly for a few days before getting oriented– so today’s post is a rambling attempt at demystifying this website, and talking about Triberr to those who are still trying to decide whether to join it.

The following is an informal discussion, and if I’ve misunderstood any part of the site, I’m sure the right people would drop by to correct me in the comments.

What is Triberr?

As I understand it, it is a site where you sign up through an invite. The invite comes from a group, (called Tribe on the site), and is sent out by the founder of the group. 

Everyone in the group has a twitter account and a blog. Every member (optionally) tweets the posts of every other member of the group, so any given post is tweeted out to all the followers of all the members.

How can Triberr help writers?

Just as it helps any other blogger. If a writer blogs, and wants to increase his or her audience, Triberr can help broaden the audience, by tweeting each post to all the followers of the members of the group. 

For instance, I if I have 1000 twitter followers and I join up with 10 people with 1000 followers each, my tweet goes out to 10000 people. Out of these, a few 100 might click though to the blog, like what they see, and come back for more, or retweet the link again.

Here are what I thought were the three most important concerns I had, and the solutions I found for them:

Concern: I have to tweet Every single tweet by all tribe members including personal rants etc.

Solution: You have a choice not to send out a tweet from one or more of your group members if you don’t approve of a particular post. You can put them on manual setting, so no tweet would go out from members unless you approve them. Remember though, that they tweet your links too, so make a wise decision when allowing/ blocking tweets.

Concern: Triberr might spam my followers.


Solution: Hasn’t happened so far. And if the founder of the tribe is doing his or her job, they will cut out members who are sending out Only promotional posts on their blogs, such as giveaways and so on. Also, you can leave the tribe any time in case you don’t like the tweets sent out through your stream.

Concern: My Triberr tweets might overwhelm my twitter stream.


Solution: At the Tribal stream, there is a link to delete the posts that are sent out, so undesired or irrelevant tweets can be discarded. Also, one can set the frequency of the auto-tweets: from 30 tweets an hour to one tweet an hour or thereabouts. I’m glad to report that some of the tweets going out of Triberr have been RTed by non-Triberr followers, so it all seems good so far.

Problems with Triberr: 


1. Mysteriousness: I understand that the site is very new, so a concrete FAQ will take time. But right now, hit and miss is the only way to learn what the terms on Triberr are all about, which turns off a lot of people. 

There is no page which can be linked to where all the info on Triberr is available at a glance. At least I haven’t found one, and I know people who haven’t either. I suppose few people have the patience to watch a video to figure out the basics about a new site and figure out if it is genuine or spam.

Here are a few Triberr terms that I understand (correctly, I hope):

Bonfire: Another word for forums. Each kind of bonfire addresses a different type of issue, from technical to ‘members wanted’.

Tribal Stream: Stream where you can see all the tweets going out from the blogs of different tribe members. This is where you can cancel tweets going out if you so desire, or tweet a post manually.

My Stream: Your blog posts show up here via RSS feed. Clicking on the number of hits on each post would tell you which tribe member brought you how many blog clicks.

Inbreeding: This means that a member of one tribe can also be part of another. The person who initiates a tribe is able to ‘unlock’ inbreeding (after a certain number of members are recruited and certain amount of bones spent) and invite folks who are already on Triberr.

Bones: The currency on Triberr which we can use to add slots for new tribe members, start 
interbreeding, or send out a ‘custom’ Tweet to the entire reach. 

I still don’t understand what Karma is, though I give Karma to posts I like, and get bones in return. Not sure I understand the equation/proportion between Karma given and Bones received.

I see each new invitee is kind of lost and has to scrabble through with the help of already existing members. Maybe Triberr could send a “Guide to Triberr” to each email that signs up for an account, complete with what to expect if they sign up, how they can control the tweets going out, and so on?

2. Lack of alerts: There is no way (that I know of), which alerts the members of the postings of the other members to the tribal stream, so they can clear the tweets held back on 
manual settings.

3. Lack of info on other members: On receipt of an invite, (again, as far as I know) the invitee has no idea of the group members and what sort of content they might have. If I’m sent an invite, I would like to see what it is I’m being invited to….what sort of tweets does each tribe member send out. As a tribe founder, I’ve resolved this by pasting info on the members in a mail to the potential invitee.
  
Advantages of Triberr for writers:

1.Widened reach, because your blog will be tweeted out multiple times, without any effort from you.
2.Creating a community of writers who band together on twitter  and off to promote each other.
3. The twitter stream is kept alive even when the writer is not online.


Disadvantages of Triberr for writers:


1. Another site to check, after Twitter, Facebook and so on.
2. Tribes need to be cohesive as a team, and sometimes that does not happen: some members end up benefiting less than others, and resentments crop up.
3. The advantage of auto-tweets is also its disadvantage, because it gives the appearance of the writer being online, even when he or she is unplugged. 

I’m currently member of three Tribes, and ever since I’ve joined I’ve seen a dramatic rise in blog stats and comments in this blog and on Daily (w)rite

 I haven’t had any trouble so far from the tribes I’ve joined, partly because the founder members (or chiefs, as they’re called) are discerning.

I’ve also started a writers-only tribe of my own, made of blog-friends who I’ve known through their blogs from some time, or writers I’ve interacted with on twitter, or writer blogs I’ve loved and wanted to include—I figured that if we have a group where everyone has matching wavelengths, perhaps the tribe would be longer-lasting, with a better dynamic, and more successful. So far, I’m happy to say all seems peaceful and friendly in my tribe.*crosses fingers*

On the whole, I’d recommend Triberr to writers. At best, they would increase their reach, at worst, leave the tribe they were invited to without any loss. It is worth checking out, definitely. Besides, the website owners are doing a fabulous job of iproving the site, and addressing glitches…for an absolutely free service, that is pretty awesome!

If you’re a writer who’s been a visitor to this blog, and the Triberr concept intrigues you, hit me up for an invite at meringue dot p at gmail dot com.

If you’re a writer, and a member or founder of a tribe on Triberr, what has been your experience like?
——————-

Update for would-be Tribers: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Triberr Wisely by the lovely Nicole Cook. Thanks, Nicole!!

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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18 Comments

  • Damyanti says:

    Kelly, yeah, it is confusing for beginners.

    Jabblog, actually Triberr takes less of my time than other social media, but that is also cos I have chosen my tribes well and trust everyone enough to auto-tweet their blogs.

    Nicole, will link to it rightaway 🙂

    Myne, social media can be exhausting after a while.

    Raylene, I'm glad you're my tribemate too 🙂

    Nadja, thanks for stopping by, and we'll be in touch via #writecampaign

    Theresa, I find twitter quite handy…and also Triberr 🙂

    Reka, I hear you on that…

    E, trust you to come up with that, lol 🙂

    Heather, yes, like everything else, it needs to be done right 🙂

    Isis, yes, choosing the right tribe is indeed key.

    Murugi, Thanks!

    Chamain, that's an interesting statement!

    Uva, thanks, which is why I have my own tribe of writer friends. It is a small tribe, but friendly and peaceful.

    Sandwiched writer, thank you!

    Cally, any time 🙂

  • Very interesting. I hadn't heard of Tiberr before you mentioned it but I definitely see the value in it. I'd ask for an invite, but I'm going to be pretty busy for the next month so wouldn't have time to figure it out.

    I might hit you up for an invite later though… 🙂

  • Interesting — I'm really gaining an education when it comes to these audience-building techniques! I've selected you for The Versatile Blogger Award. If you'd like to participate, please check out my blog for details!

  • Good post, I agree, the Tribe site is as confusing as all the funny names. I blundered around for a few days myself, and didn't figure it out as well as you did 🙂

    I'm debating on un-triberring myself, and I'm only in one tribe. Starting my own tribe for serial fiction writers or trying out some other tribes might be a better idea.

    thanks for writing this, grand writing to you,
    sincerely, @Uva_Be

  • I feel like at this stage Google + will cause twitter to dwindle down after a while, but it's an interesting concept.
    Wagging Tales – Blog for Writers

  • I'd never heard of it before reading but i am always ready for new stuff,especially social media stuff! You have a great blog! 🙂

  • Isis Rushdan says:

    Thanks for swinging by my blog.

    This is an interesting concept. Loved Raylene's comment. It helped me to see that it will not necessarily suck up my time, which is a concern. I guess choosing the right tribe is key.

    Great information.

  • I've never heard of Triberr before, but done right, it sounds like a great idea!

  • -E- says:

    they obviously hadn't considered the sexual connotations before they settled on that name. but then again i'm not one to talk.

  • Reka Sang says:

    I haven't heard of it before…and I am off twitter for a quite a while now…it becomes a babel setting where everyone is reweeting std stuff and no one is paying attention….the pressure to read all your friends tweets got too much…and i have a tiny weeny problem with blatant self promotion that happens there.

  • This is the first I'm hearing of Twibber. Since I'm not on Twitter, I won't look into it yet. But it's good to know. Thanks!

  • Interesting information, thanks for posting an explanation of Triberr. I'd never heard of it before reading.
    Thanks for stopping by my blog! It's great to meet you. This campaign has helped me connect with so many great writers! I'm going to check out your link to the Rule Of Three…Thank you for telling me about it.

    Hope to see you during the Campaign again! ~ Nadja

  • I love Triberr, and I think you've given a good overview here. It can be as simple or as complicated as someone wants to make it I think. Join a tribe and let it go, or watch the tweets carefully and sort through things. Either way, the Triberr system is only meant to be a supplement to what you're doing on Twitter. The KEY I believe, is getting into or creating good tribes!!! Always select quality over quantity. It's better to be involved in a few small tribes that are EXCELLENT than to be in several large tribes that are mediocre.

    I enjoy having you as a tribemate! Thanks for this post!

    ~ Raylene at It's OK to be WEIRD!

  • Myne Whitman says:

    This sounds interesting and quite tempting but I think I'm done with adding new social media for now. 🙂

  • Lesann Berry says:

    I've awarded you the Versatile Blogger Award! Here are the details: http://lesannberry.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post.html. I hope you're pleased. I've enjoyed visiting your blog and want others to do so. Thanks!

  • Nikki says:

    Aw, how have you two missed my awesome Comprehensive Guide to Triberr post? Dino posts it all the time in the bonfire. LOL
    It's constantly updated and changing (especially with the site redesign) but its the most comprehensive out there so far. It was formally titled "The Idiots Guide…" but I decided I don't like that title. 🙂

    Damyanti – you probably havne't seen in because you tweet my stuff via my @simplywriting account on twitter, but my @dailydishrecipe blog is where it came from. 😉

    A Comprehensive Guide to Using Triberr Wisely

  • jabblog says:

    It sounds very complicated and time-consuming to a simple soul like me. As it is, I have enough difficulty finding time to reply to commenters to my blog posts. Good luck!

  • Excellent post. I would love a written guide, too. New members have to wander around to figure it out, or rely on their tribemates for information. The most common email I see is "now I'm in, what do I do?" It doesn't need to be like that.