Ten years ago, in April 1999, The Cluetrain Manifesto was published.
This seminal work introduced 95 separate theses based on the concept that “markets are conversations.â€
Pretty radical stuff for many people in many companies to think about at the time.
I remember reading Cluetrain for the first time in 2001, not really agreeing with much of what I read beyond the broad concept that markets are indeed conversations, although very willing to be persuaded on new perspectives.
So ten years on, how does Cluetrain look today?
Well, I’m contributing some thoughts to one of the 95 theses as my contribution to cluetrainplus10, an effort organized by Canadian Keith McArthur.
My thesis to comment on is number 9:
9. These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge.
Rather than write words you’d read on a screen, I decided to record an audio commentary, a podcast.
You can download the MP3 file (5.3Mb, 11:30) for offline listening, or play it here and now with the Flash player if you see it at the top of the page.