There are times when something clicks that turns an "aha" moment into "holy sh*t".  I had such a moment when looking through the proposed idea of Tribes as mentioned by @aggroed.

In reading through the information, it took me a little while to connect the dots.  When I finally understood, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  This could be absolutely huge.

<center>![](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYNLN9cbM2mG1Cpi3wixtx42V1PiwKSjJQtsZSeM6ngi8/image.png)
[Source](https://qz.com/africa/1037595/adding-asians-to-kenyas-list-of-tribes-shows-an-unhealthy-obsession-with-tribal-purity/)</center>

What is Tribes?  It is the idea of forming communities on the Steem blockchain using a variety of applications that are available.  If I understand it correctly, the payouts could be huge.

The best way to explain this is to use an example.  Let us say we are starting a Tribe for homesteaders.  

What are we going to need?

The first thing is a website.  This is the foundation of the tribe.  We live in a digital world and the website is ground zero for all activity.

Once we have the website, we need a token.  After all, this is web 3.0, thus we to be able to provide users with incentive.  Hence we create the HOME token.

Now that we have the website and a token, what can we do?

The first is blogging.  Our Home website is a blogging site just like Steemit or PALnet.  People can post their long form articles and receive payouts in the HOME currency.  Since all the post do get pushed through to the Steem blockchain, SP/SBD are also earned.

Blogging is great for those who want to provide information.  What about interaction?  We know that the comment section is not the best way to get interaction.

Enter TokenBB and the forum.  On the website, we have our HOME forum where people can go and post their questions.  Individuals can also engage in ongoing discussions surrounding the different topics.  This is something that can be moderated to prevent spam and nefarious activity.

Of course, homesteaders tend to be creative people, surpassing just the written word.  What about those who want to create how to videos?  This is an important part of the educational process.  

This is where HomeTube comes into play.  Those video creators can post their content on this application just like people do with D.Tube.

Finally, perhaps we want to put on a live tutorial or have an interview with one of our more valued homesteading members.  We can use VIMM to accomplish this right from the website.  An announcement in the forum could help us to attract more viewers.

So what did all this accomplish?

To start, all the applications are available as features on the website.  There is no need to open different applications to use them.  They are all contained on the base website which is catering to the homesteader Tribe.  

Another aspect to this is the fact that the posts are linked to the specific underlying applications.  What I mean by this is all blog posts do appear on Steemit.com.  At the same time, the HomeTube posts are available for viewing by those who are on D.Tube.  

This offers the possibility of more people finding the information while also providing the users with the potential to earn different tokens.  As mentioned, a blog post will earn HOME tokens and SP/SBD.  A post on HomeTube will also net HOME tokens and, if they bring them out, the possibility to get D.Tube tokens.  

Once again, we see the opportunity to earn multiple ways for the same effort.

The other major part to this is the idea that people are getting together around a central theme.  If one is interested in homesteading, there is no need to sift through thousands of posts that are moving along like a river flowing.  We all know finding stuff on the Steem blockchain can be difficult.  This alleviates all of it.

This opens up a world of possibilities.  Consider how many communities are formed online around a central theme.  Most any idea has a following.  People follow professional and collegiate sports teams.  There are followers of political candidates or parties.  We see different movements. Television shows have fans.  People like to discuss philosophy or religion.  Singers, actors, and other celebrities are the focus of millions.  

We also have a multitude of YouTube creators who have established followings.  Here we see tens of thousands of tribes that could potentially be moved to Steem.  

Whatever the area of interest, it is a candidate to have a Tribe.  By providing a platform where all the applications are available from one place, this brings different aspects of social media together.  One of the main problems with the present system is that it is siloed.  People need to physically switch from one app to the other.  With this, all is under one roof.

We also have the benefit of a single log in for all Steem-based applications.  

Are you beginning to see how this is a revolutionary idea?

My final thought with this is that we are seeing the power go back to the people.  There is no demonetization by a central entity or the ability to take down ones content.  These Tribes, although initially set up by an individual or two, exist for the users.  They are the ones who will make it go.  It is an opportunity for everyone to benefit from creating content and being an active member of the community, not just the main individual(s) who set it up.

I also want to take this opportunity to showcase how exponential growth takes place.  Look at the convergence of many developments on here.  We have the different applications that are being pulled in.  The creation of Steem-Engine provides the ability to develop tokens through the smart contract capability that was written by @harpagon.  We now have an exchange to swap the tokens.  

In other words, this idea would not have been possible a year ago.  It took the development to provide the pieces for this to come together.  Now with the pieces in place, the coding can occur to pull it all under one roof.

Everything builds on top of what went before.  The more that is there, the greater the slope of the growth curve.

Things are just starting to get interesting.

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