Catch the Cluetrain
A decade ago, four men crafted their own 95 Theses railing against the inhumanity of global conglomerates and nailed them on the Internet at cluetrain.com.
The statements, part of a document known as the Cluetrain Manifesto (which later became a book), took issue with the callousness of our corporations, their failure to be human. For years, these behemoths doled out “products” for “consumption” by “target markets,” and lost sight of the fact that consumers are people, too.
They lost the ability to speak to us, to touch us. Instead, they just ticked us off and did not seem to mind doing so.
A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.
–The Cluetrain Manifesto
Today, those statements decrying the ills of corporate society are ever more applicable, as companies grow bigger and colder.
We are now witnessing the folly of that behavior.
Social media have shifted the power to us, the “people of earth” to whom the manifesto’s authors called in their straightforward, sensible statement of humanity. The manifesto derives its power from the fact that these four — Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger — had been movers and shakers among those in the ivory towers. They were not yelling into the wind; some of the ears above heard the call.
As I read through the 10th anniversary edition, it seems our news media could learn much from this manifesto: Reconnect with the community. Listen to the people. Join with them to solve your community’s problems.
Communication is no longer one-way. People do not have to consume your demographically-precise, poll-tested messages.
As the first thesis reminds us: “Markets are conversations.” Will news organizations join in?
Awesome. We just talked about Cluetrain in my class last week and I mentioned it in a blog post this morning. It’s weird how social media works.
Anyway, this is a book I need to reread every year. I love how it has complex ideas presented with elegant simplicity. What do you think about it as a textbook? I’ve been debating it myself for a bit and wondering if there’s a certain type of ground-level knowledge needed to get some of the ideas there.
Jeremy, I think it’s perfect as a textbook. It’s probably more meaningful to people who have worked for a corporation, but most of us can relate to being treated like a number instead of a human being. Wherever we end up, whatever we do, the fundamental truth that we are first and foremost people dealing with people is powerful and vital.
I’ve used ClueTrain in class too. I didn’t think my students seemed to get it. I’ll have to direct them to this post.