研究發現在星巴克討論板上，新的話題透過討論的方式不斷產生出不同的符號意義，來強化消費者之間對於星巴克的喜好與認同，透過說(文章的發表或討論)與看(觀看他人的討論)，具體的商品轉變成了一個由消費主體藉由文字所賦予的意義符號。當真實世界中的具體商品表現在虛擬空間中時，重要的不在於這個商品本身具有什麼樣的物理特性，而是有一個指涉它的界體存在，即文字，我們對於具體商品的想像與回憶，是透過文字對商品或自身經驗的陳述所建立的。因此從實際面來看，一方面星巴克透過新商品來刺激消費者的購買，是「物質」在生產面與消費面的不斷增加；而另一方面表現在消費者之間對於商品的討論，則是「符號意義」在生產與消費面的不斷增加。這個由星巴克愛好者所組成的討論板具有Maffesoli提到的「部落社會」的特性。Maffesoli提到今日的社群具有部落(tribe)的特徵，它表現在一些小團體上(例如網路社群)，它的成立是隨性的，組織沒有固定，它所標示的正是流動性、偶然的聚集與散落。消費者作為一個消費主體，一方面透過文字的生產與他人的互動中，參與了星巴克消費論述的生產；而另一方面個人將他在星巴克的消費表述為一個經歷或體驗的過程時，他是作為一個反思的行動主體來重新回顧行動與行動之間的連結。 In Starbucks discussion board, a lot of discussion related to new products and the topic of talk always accompany with new products and commercial sales. Starbucks' fans create consumption meanings through ‘talk’ (by presenting their opinions or discuss with others) and ‘observation’( browsing others’ discussion), so physical products become a variety of symbolic meanings that are signified by words. In other words, when physical products represent symbols in the virtual world, the most important thing does not lie on their physical property but meanings (or written words) that signify to them, because our imagination and remembrance about physical products are constructed by words that signify our consumption experiences. The community is formed by Starbucks' fans. It has the characteristic of tribal society and the term tribal society were mention by Michel Maffesoli. Groups are not immobile, and they represent the proprieties of flow, gathering and scattering at random. The consumers, being consumption subjectivities, often interact with others through the production of written words and participate in the production process of Starbucks consumption discourse. They become reflexive subject when they retrospect the connections of their actions.
