Networked Religion
Definition
At my first tech event in Portland, Oregon, I introduced myself to a group called the “Legion of Tech” as a Cyborg Anthropologist. An individual came up to me afterwards and asked me if I’d ever considered twitter as a religion. The idea had actually crossed my mind before, but I was not able to take it really seriously yet.
The idea of the traditional city was that of a series of concentric rings. The innermost of these rings was the most holy spot, capable of only being accessed by the highest priest in the village. In the same way, the true individual lies on the highest point - the most difficult to access by anyone from the outside world. In the world of the celebrity, the celebrity also exists on this highest point.
There are rules that apply to a location. But a location has become a community. Thus, community rules have occurred that allow one to act a certain way in a space or be forced out to an outer ring. Each social system functions as a concentric circle with different rules and norms, and some top people, whether creators, in the case of the software designers, or the most prolific users of the system, such as Scoble on Twitter or Friendfeed. These are the local celebrities.
In order to become well known, those in the periphery must follow increasingly pure news streams of data increasingly relative to their crowd or subject data. In doing so, they begin to be considered experts on their own subject matter and begin to ac3crue a series of followers that wish to be seen as experts on the subject but do not have as heavily pure data streams.
In the case of the celebrity, what exists on top of that hill takes the highest value, and many try to enter that inner sanctum of the place in order to be able to access it. The barriers of that outside wall are created by the defenders. Sometimes, PR firms put up those walls. In this case, one must go through the PR firm in order to get into the inner walls of the sanctuary that surrounds the celebrity on top of the hill. Some just send their own PR agents to talk with the other PR agents.
The top bloggers hold court online, and digital worshippers make pilgrimages to see them, hoping for a few drops of attention. Kris Krug gathered 300 followers in one day because be was pointed to by the hand of rhea almighty Robert Scoble, the supreme technologically connected supernode.
