The rapid adoption of electronic surveillance methods has gotten quite a lot of coverage in the news lately.  At the same time people have realized that basically everything that they put online will be available there forever. Adding to that all the data from our cellphones, credit cards and other data sources that we might not even be aware of, it is no wonder privacy is one of the topics that pops up on a daily basis.

The alarmists are crying foul. They argue that our basic right to privacy is being severely compromised and that preventive measures should be taken to insure that our current walls of privacy will not be breached.

On the other hand people are voluntarily unveiling more and more private things in their blogs and via services like Flickr and YouTube. Jaiku, Twitter and the Facebook status update are taking this a step further. They allow you to tell your friends about your location and daily going-ons in minutiae detail.

I would argue that secretiveness is actually a by-product of industrialization and mass media. Our level of privacy was quite different when people were still living in smaller communities. Everybody knew the other members of the tribe and it was hard to keep secrets when news and rumors spread rapidly throughout the whole community.

Digital media is taking us back to a time before we put up our walls of privacy. The tribe will no longer be constrained to one physical location but when it comes to privacy they might as well be. Digital media will make it possible for every member of the tribe to know where everyone else is, what they are doing and what they are thinking about.

Having every detail of our lives plastered online for anyone to see will change the way we think about privacy. Being worried that your future boss can see all the stupid things that you did as a teenager will not be an issue anymore because you will be able to see exactly the same things about the boss. When everything is public there will no longer be a need for privacy.

I am hoping that more openness will force people and businesses to be more civil and think more about the consequences of their actions.

The tribe is having dinner. They have got a nice fire going. The men have been out hunting all day. They have brought back enough meat to last for a while, so everybody is happy. Life seems good.

The eldest is telling an educational story to the younger tribe members. Something that will help them next time they are in a sticky situation with a ferocious animal. All the listeners are tired after a hard day of surviving so only some are focused on listening. Others are already nodding off.

Along comes a marketer. Running and shouting. Waving his hands. Jumping up and down. Doing everything he can to get him and his message noticed.

What do you think might happen?

The tribe thinks they are being attacked by the relative of the animal they just had for dinner? They think that the tribe next door has launched a surprise attack to steal the fresh meat?

It really makes no difference what the tribe actually thinks. The fact is, the marketer is going to get punished. Punished bad. Really bad.

The tribe is not going to ask questions when they feel someone is threatening them. They are going to do everything they can to defend themselves and their possessions.

Marketers in the digital age are increasingly facing the same situation. The tribe is minding their own business in their own little social network. Doing things that they find important. Things they are passionate about. But marketers are still using their mass media tactics. Running and shouting. Jumping and waving their hands. And getting punished.

Now, how will a smart marketer get the tribe interested in what he has to say?

Approach the tribe in daylight. Offer them some handpicked berries. Or anything else that they might find valuable. Give them something and start building a relationship.

The next time it’s going to be much easier. They are going to start to trust the marketer and might even ask him to join them for dinner. Maybe the marketer will be the person that gets to tell the story. If the marketer is really wise he is going to throw in a few questions to get the tribe involved in product development. “Should I call my new thing iron or rion?”

Digital is bringing back the tribe and the only way for a marketer to survive is to build a relationship. A real, honest to god, relationship. No shortcuts. No way to cheat or fake it.

Now, I’m not saying that we will have to literally move to live in caves again. My point is that human nature has not had time to evolve that much even though industrialization and mass media have had a significant impact on society. We still have the same needs and desires that we had some thousands of years ago.

Digital media will enable and at the same time force us to change the way we live. Instead of a tribe living in a cave, our tribes will be defined by our interests and passions regardless of location. A tribe of snowboarders, a tribe of Star Trek fans , a tribe of whatever-the-hell-you-can-think-of.

This “tribalization” will have an enormous effect on every aspect of life: business, privacy, copyright, education, literacy. Just about anything you can name.

Yes, every major change comes with good and bad aspects but I definitely see a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Tribalization has the potential to take us to a new future. One where we can get sustainable living without sacrificing the comforts that we are used to.

The change is not going to be easy and there are going to be casualties, at least of the corporate kind. Some people are going to fight change to the bitter end but eventually everyone will just have to surrender.

I’m heading for my cave. Anybody want to join me?

Read the first part of this post here.