Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

TRIBEWANTED WINS ‘BEST SOCIAL NETWORK’ BROADCAST AWARD, BEATING MYSPACE AND SKINS

Tribewanted has been named ‘Best Social Network’ at the London Broadcast Digital Media Awards, beating the likes of MySpace and E4’s Skins.

Tribewanted.com, a global search to form the world’s first online and offline tribal community has been named the ‘Best Social Network’ site, at the 2008 London Broadcast Digital Media Awards. Up against social networking giants, MySpace and E4’s Skins, the Tribewanted team were presented with the much deserved recognition of being the most innovative and impactful social networking site.

Ben Keene, Founder of Tribewanted, said:

“Tribewanted has all the offerings of a typical social networking site but most importantly it has a real world headquarters; an island and family in Fiji – it’s an online social network and real-world social network that’s as international and cross-cultural as the internet itself.”

In 2006, Tribewanted founders Ben Keene and Mark Bowness built a social networking site, with members becoming part of the ‘tribe’. The aim was to simultaneously build an on-line and on-island village contributing to sustainable development in the northern region of Fiji. A new and exciting way of communicating was created.

Tribewanted started as a simple online concept, where the tribe discussed the core challenges of building a village from scratch on Vorovoro Island. They then put their money where their dreams were, paying £120 upwards to guarantee them at least one week on the Fijian island; creating a real-life tribe and developing a model for engaging sustainable tourism. Just 1 month into the launch of the site, the tribe was buzzing, peaking at 7,000 unique visits a day.

Keene continues;

“Tribewanted online re-engages a sense of global community - addressing real-world solutions to real-world problems. The tribe was able to go beyond the social networking norms of simply discussing an issue; we were able to do something about it, visiting somewhere so beautiful that benefits from us being there. The real surprise of the project has been the depth of the relationships built cross-culturally on-line and on the island itself. I think it proves that social networking relationships aren’t just superficial, instead they can have fantastic meaningful outcomes.”

On September 1st 2006, 13 ‘first-footers’ landed on Vorovoro, a Fijian island, and became the 1st online tribe members to work with real life tribes people.

To date, the tribe is an online community of nearing 10,000, over 500 of which have now spent an average of 2 weeks on Vorovoro.

ENDS –

Photo’s of the island, Chief Tui Mali and Ben are available upon request.

About Tribewanted.com:

Tribewanted online was launched in April 2006.
Vorovoro Island is situated a 25 minute boat ride off the north coast of Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second largest island.
The island community is now approaching 2 years old, with approximately 25 new tribe members visiting the island every week
Tribewanted has achieved media coverage across 23 different countries

www.tribewanted.com

For more info contact emma@10yetis.co.uk , Tel - 01452 348211

QUIZ QUESTION

The first journalist to come back to us with the correct answer for the following question wins an unbranded gift. Send your answer to emma@10yetis.co.uk

Q: Where was E4’s Skins filmed?