Finding and Connecting the Securities Litigation “Tribe”

In his best-selling book “Tribes,” author Seth Godin defines a tribe as a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea that inspires their passion.  More recently, in November 2008, Godin wrote on the subject of blogs that

the function of the blog is to be a standard bearer, the north star that tribe members can point to as a place to meet or for ideas to circle around. The blog isn’t about the writer, it’s about the readers.

The key takeaway is this: once you realize that your job is to find and connect and lead a tribe, to give them something to talk about and a place to go, it’s a lot easier to write a blog that works.

I read these thoughts from Godin well after I started Securities Docket in September 2008, but they capture some of the most important goals of this publication very well:

• to “find and connect” everyone who has an interest in securities litigation and SEC enforcement; and
  
• to identify and produce content that is so useful, timely and consistently on-point that it gives this community of users “something to talk about and a place to go.”

Launched on September 1, 2008, Securities Docket turned six months old this month.  In that time we have tried to confirm our belief that there is a securities litigation “tribe” or “community,” to determine how big this community may be, and to explore how its members can be connected via this publication and through the use of social networking and new media.

The numbers from the first six months have been quite eye-opening and have shed considerable light on some of these questions.  In short, it is now clear that there is, in fact, a “tribe” of people with an interest in securities litigation and enforcement issues that is global, constantly looking for useful information in various forms, and which numbers in the tens of thousands of people.

Consider that after starting from “zero” across the board in September 2008, Securities Docket now has

• over 15,000 unique visitors and 55,000 page views per month;
• over 1,400 subscribers to our new Securities Litigation and Enforcement webcast channel;
• over 750 email and RSS feed subscribers;
• 350 followers on Twitter;
• 325 members of our Securities Litigation and Enforcement Group on LinkedIn.com; and
• readers from 153 different countries

Aggregating and connecting this group of people who share a common interest in this subject matter has had the additional benefit of allowing our sponsors—which include many of the leading companies in the industry and in the world such as Citizens Bank, Alvarez & Marsal, Administar, BDO Consulting, NERA Economic Consulting, KPMG Forensic, Navigant Consulting, and Innovative Discovery—to deliver their message to a group that while always critical to their businesses, could not previously be reached in an efficient way.

We continue to look for new ways to find and connect the thousands of people who share a common interest in this subject matter, and plan to introduce several new wrinkles on this theme in the coming months.  Please stay tuned and thanks for reading!