| | |  | Karl Long | | Home » | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | How would you classify a book that begins with the salutation, "People of Earth..."? While the captains of industry might dismiss it as mere science fiction, The Cluetrain Manifesto is definitely of this day and age. Aiming squarely at the solar plexus of corporate America, authors Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger show how the Internet is turning business upside down. They proclaim that, thanks to conversations taking place on Web sites and message boards, and in e-mail and chat rooms, employees and customers alike have found voices that undermine the traditional command-and-control hierarchy that organizes most corporate marketing groups. "Markets are conversations," the authors write, and those conversations are "getting smarter faster than most companies." In their view, the lowly customer service rep wields far more power and influence in today's marketplace than the well-oiled front office PR machine. The Cluetrain Manifesto began as a Web site (www.cluetrain.com) in 1999 when the authors, who have worked variously at IBM, Sun Microsystems, the Linux Journal, and NPR, posted 95 theses that pronounced what they felt was the new reality of the networked marketplace. For example, thesis no. 2: "Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors"; thesis no. 20: "Companies need to realize their markets are often laughing. At them"; thesis no. 62: "Markets do not want to talk to flacks and hucksters. They want to participate in the conversations going on behind the corporate firewall"; thesis no. 74: "We are immune to advertising. Just forget it." The book enlarges on these themes through seven essays filled with dozens of stories and observations about how business gets done in America and how the Internet will change it all. While Cluetrain will strike many as loud and over the top, the message itself remains quite relevant and unique. This book is for anyone interested in the Internet and e-commerce, and is especially important for those businesses struggling to navigate the topography of the wired marketplace. All aboard! --Harry C. Edwards | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Christopher Locke | | Paperback:
| 190 pages | | Publisher:
| Basic Books | | Publication Date:
| 2001-01 | | ISBN:
| 0738204315 | | Package Length:
| 8.9 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.8 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.6 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.7 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 150 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
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 Wake-up CallJun 17, 2008
This book is a wake-up call for organizations that want to embrace the internet. It advocates an authentic approach toward communication, helping employees and customers find their "voice" so that we can all talk to each other in a more trustworthy manner.
Author, "Trust is Everything: Become the leader others will follow"
I love it!May 02, 2008
This book is a bit dated, but remains more relevant than ever! Talks about the market shift from top-down consumer culture, to having market 'conversations.' You'll have to read the rest for yourself! I've recommended it to friends/coworkers, who all have thanked me as it is an eye-opener, if not the unheard cry they've been making all their life.
Still rocking after all these years!Apr 15, 2008
Why review the Cluetrain after so much time has elapsed? Because we tend to get too caught up with the here and now and forget that we have only been on this journey a very short period of time. When we look back 10, 20, 30 years from now we (the collective we) will look back and point to the Cluetrain as marking a time when a major inflection point occurred. The Cluetrain did not cause the inflection point, it simply captured its essence.
Yeah, everyone now repeats the "markets are conversations" meme, but I suspect that few really understand what that means. Why? Because it is not a done deal. We are still trying to figure it out. It is early in Web years. We are still at the base of the mountain and nowhere near the summit. It pays to go back and revisit one of the earlier maps.
Still a Valuable ReadFeb 12, 2008
Even though the Cluetrain Manifesto was published several years ago it is still a valuable and insightful read today. Many of the trends identified by Christophe Locke et al, are still very relevant today and the book serves as a good reminder of the importance of personal contact - the power of marketing/sell one-to-one and individual conversations rather than one-way broadcast media.
It emphasizes community and collaboration and how leading organizations (or sometimes even specific individuals working against the outdated/draconian rules of their employers) are embracing new technologies to capitalize on the ability to fully engage customers and build true rapport/loyalty.
Overall, great book that is well worth the bargain prices it can be found at today.
 Introduction to the language of the webFeb 03, 2008
If you're writing on the web you want, you need, to read this book. That doesn't mean you'll want to take all the advice the authors offer you. Some of it is dished out for shock value, some of it you might well find beyond the pale.
But it will help you to understand some of the underlying principles and values of conversation on the web, why some things look and sound the way they do, and why a broadcast model marketing pitch is *not* the way to go when you're doing business on the net.
The 'advice' offered by the authors was the part I found hardest to swallow - like this tenet that you "have" to play, because conversation on the net is not the place for things that re more serious and goal-oriented (really, so no-one's trying to do business?)
What I found most helpful was the analogy of the internet as a bazaar, the conversations that are springing up like the ancient trade routes, congregating around common interests and shared points of view. This provides us with a meaningful hook for thinking about the way we write on the web: to engage; to attract attention; to leave the room for a conversation; to banter, barter and have a bit of fun; to make a lasting connection (so folk will come back); to speak the same language as those who are moving past; to listen to what you hear people talking about and looking for.
This is the main 'take-away' message that I got from Cluetrain: "If you want to barter, get down off that camel!"
It's a powerful and valuable message and I'd say the book was worth reading to "get" this and some other big ideas that drive the modern web... just remember to take the advice with a pinch of salt, and find a way of writing that reflects your personality, your style, your personal and business values.
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