What Michel Maffesoli would say about FindMyTribe.com

I am Michel Maffesoli. To me, FindMyTribe.com is an easy, accessible way of identifying the “tribe” of an individual or an audience group. There is a wide range of options and outcomes available on the website, which give detailed overviews of each individual tribe. The tribes are constantly being updated by users of the website, giving the site validity in relation to ecology as real-life users are interpreting their views and experiences of society. FindYourTribe reinforces my theories, presenting how modern day is the time of tribes. Its results show how culture has disintegrated, fragmented into many tribes from other tribes. These are organized around the basis of brands, consumerism, sound-bites and catchwords.

 However, where the site loses its validity is the realism of the outcomes. The questionnaire has no scientific basis, therefore no real data to backup the results. The matter of which tribe one belongs to is completely opinionated: the opinions of other members of society and most importantly the opinions of an individual. If a person considers themselves “indie scenester” they will adapt their behaviour, fashion, social group, media interests and consumption in order to “fit in” with that group. Individuals are constantly adapting themselves as the ideologies of a tribe constantly adapts, and so the tribe of an individual cannot always be strictly determined, as FindMyTribe.com is trying to achieve. 

Audience Profile: Overview

In terms of appearance, my male target audience wear denim jeans, plain and print t-shirts, chequered shirts, hoodies, skateboard trainers, and have a typically casual style. The female members of my target audience would wear floral dresses, denim jackets, jeans, leggings, tights, and Toms shoes.

They value highly their independence and personal strength, as well as their passions for creativity and the arts. They also highly value their social lives. Being out with friends, making new friends and developing relationships is a big part of their lives.

Their ambitions include going to university and becoming successful. Musical members of the target audience want to perform, record and tour. They also are interested in travelling, both around the UK and around the world and experiencing different cultures. They’d define themselves against celebs such as Britney Spears, Cher Lloyd and P Diddy, but find role models in Ed Sheeran and Jessie J due to their success and passion for their work.

In terms of media, my target audience use the internet to express themselves and communicate with their friends. Their favourite sites are Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Tumblr, Flickr and Blogger. Their choice of TV and film are usually American, and E4 is a favourite channel because of programs such as Friends, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, which reflect how socialising is a large part of their lives. As well as this, T4 and 4 Music represent their interests in music. Mainstream American comedy films are favourites too, such as The Hangover.

My music video is designed to attract my target audience as it uses only actors of the same age, ethnicity and fashion as the audience. The actors are white teens aged 17, the male being very similar in look and fashion to the artist in order to represent him and his genre.

The storyline of the video will attract the audience due to the theme of love and relationships, which is a key interest of the target audience. The social interaction side of the video links in with this, and it represented throughout the video with the couple spending time together in the city, and at the seaside; typical date-like destinations or even destinations where groups of young people such as those of the target audience might choose to visit or hang out. The activities, or instance playing on the beach and using the arcades that are shown in the video attract the audiences’ fun, lively side, but this is combined with the actions of the couple, for instance laying together on the sand and walking hand in hand, which could be considered more mature actions. This is a desire of the target audience as a young-adult group; to become more mature and more importantly to be considered as mature people. 

My (Paige's) costume

The costume for Paige we planned to be casual, high-street fashion. By doing this we aren't drifting from the fashions of the genre of the music, which suits the storyline of the music video. We kept Paige's costume neutral and simple but still fashionable.