The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business As Usual

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.
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cf0 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

uuid: 060B13C2-0FD0-4D58-BC62-AAEC569BCF31
upc: 9780738202440
title: The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business As Usual
purchase date: 14-12-2005
publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Perseus Books
published: 21-12-1999
price: CDN$ 34.95
pages: 190
net Rating: 3.82
last lookup time: 156321584
genre: Business & Investing Strategy & Competition Internet Marketing Web Marketing Social Theory
fullTitle: The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business As Usual
currentValue: CDN$ 1.17
created: 156321584
country: ca
author: Rick Levine Doc Searls David Weinberger Christopher Locke
aspect: Hardcover
asin: 0738202444