| | |  | Toby Bloomberg | Home » » The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual | | | | | | | Description: | | From four of the liveliest personalities on the Web comes a provocative, outrageous, and wickedly smart account of what it will take to prosper in the fast-forward world on the wire. This nationally acclaimed best seller is a spirited, original, and wonderfully irreverent conversation that will challenge, provoke, and forever change your outlook on the digital economy. A rich tapestry of anecdotes, object lessons, parodies, insights, and predictions, The Cluetrain Manifesto illustrates how the Internet has radically reframed the seemingly immutable laws of business--and what business needs to know to weather the seismic aftershocks. "An earnest plea for a new kind of language and new expectations for the Web.... While others work on turning the Internet into the perfect medium for reaching traditional business goals, these four Net-philes hope cyberspace will give commerce a 'human voice.'" -Harvard Business Review "For every retail or consumer-products company wondering why its Internet marketing doesn't seem to be working, The Cluetrain Manifesto...offers fresh and sound advice, expressed in entertaining prose. Its oft-repeated premise--that markets are conversations--should be pounded into the collective brain of corporate executives." -Business Week | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Christopher Locke | | Paperback:
| 190 pages | | Publisher:
| Basic Books | | Publication Date:
| 2001-01 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0738204315 | | Package Length:
| 9.0 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.0 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.6 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.85 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 155 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
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Re-think before you Re-toolMay 14, 2009
A great book for those that want to come to some conclusions about social media and a web-driven world before they start down a misaligned and/or ineffective path. This book, written almost a decade ago, helps establish the new ground rules for community and conversation (including marketing and advertising) in a transcontinental-internet-connected world. I love things that make me think, that compel me to fill margins with thoughts and notes. This book did just that.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 The ClueLESS Manifesto - a book of fictionApr 25, 2009
This book describes a world that doesn't exist with words so full of flatulence it makes the pages reek by page 20.
The 4 authors contend "markets are conversations", which sounds deep and insightful, until you pause and realize most markets are not conversations. I buy milk and t-shirts and fax machines and hotel rooms without entering a conversation - online or offline. So the notion that markets are conversations falls apart under casual inspection.
In fact, most people aren't going online to "join the conversation". They are going online to shop for books in their pajamas, or read the news, or watch YouTube videos. This is another fiction stated loudly by the authors but not supported by evidence.
They ring the warning bell loudly but there's no fire. The authors caution businesses that won't let their employees speak freely online, saying they can go out of business "overnight". But they don't produce a single example of a business that failed because it wouldn't join the conversation.
The authors use phrases so full of gas it makes your upper lip curl. Case in point on page 120 "The web world is bigger than the business world and is swallowing the business world whole. The vague rumblings you're hearing are the sounds of digestion." Truly reptilian.
In their defense, they do make a good point that marketing has taken on a tinny and hollow sound. But that's been true for decades. I do agree it's time for marketers to sound like human beings, not brochures. For this point alone, I give them 2 stars.
But this is a work of fiction by 4 self-absorbed pseudo-intellectuals who are clueless, but aren't afraid to just write the manifesto anyway.
 An Assault Against Business As UsualFeb 13, 2009
The 95 Theses of the Cluetrain Manifesto recognized that the Internet would disrupt traditional marketing and force companies to communicate on a human level. I believe they were right on both points. Here are my favorite theses:
#1. Markets are conversations.
#2. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
#7. Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy.
#78. You want us to pay? We want you to pay attention.
I also liked the authors' take on positioning:
"Positioning is about discovering who you, as a business, are -- discovering your identity, not inventing a new one willy-nilly. Positioning could help a company become what it is, not something it's not (no matter how cool it would be)."
There are other nice nuggets here and there. Otherwise, this book is a poorly organized, meandering rant. This passion is part of what makes it interesting, but a red thread of logic is missing. It is a confusing book to read.
The manifesto is significant because of the spirit behind the words and the snapshot of the times it captures. The Cluetrain Manifesto came out at the height of dot.com mania in 2000, and it presents the revolutionary optimism of that time.
If you want to see the whole book digitally, you can find it through Doc Searls web site. Reading the 95 theses provides good food for thought.
180 pages too long....Oct 17, 2008
I just finished reading this book, having checked it out from the library. I am glad I didn't buy it. I voraciously read business books, but this one was a chore, at best.
The first 105 pages could be easily condensed down into 1 page at most, and perhaps even a single paragraph or a few bullet points that explain the basic premise:
* The Internet will bypass any attempts at controlling your corporate message, so you might as well plan to talk to customers and allow them to talk with you.
* "The Market" is "Conversations", so you need to participate in the "conversation".
* Speak to customers in a "natural" voice, not corporate-speak.
That was the first half of the book, in a nutshell. The remainder basically reinforced this, with continued exhortations on how one must "join the conversation", speak in a "natural voice" because that's what "markets" demand.
I guess if you were the CEO or other top executive of a large firm, this book might be applicable. However, I am not. I am a sole proprietor who runs an internet retail operation. Perhaps I got so little out of it because I've already done what they're telling/advising folks to do, so much of it seems like a series of "well, duh!" internal comments.
The other thing I don't like about the book is that examples are very few, IMO. Where are the success stories, apart from a notable example of Saturn or United Airlines (I think that's the airline involved...could be wrong).
Overall, I'd say if you don't spend / haven't spent a lot of time on the Internet "conversing" (Internet forums, chat rooms, Usenet, etc.), then perhaps this book would be helpful. But I would advise to borrow it from your local library rather than buy it.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
The book is more entertainment than anything elseOct 03, 2008
While there are some interesting points in this book, it seems that the authors have spent more energy on "sounding cool and fresh" than on writing a book that can give interesting thoughts and insights. It is very annoying when sometimes, page after page is filled with text that would fit more in a poem than in a book about business.
Furthermore, while the authors do have some interesting points, there is no valid research behind their thoughts. Basically, they have sat together and brainstormed some ideas, which they have then put in this book.
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