Cluetrain ‘New’ Manifesto

The book that had the biggest impact on how I – and indeed how many marketers – appoached social media is The Cluetrain Manifesto which is celebrating being 10 years old this month. Cluetrain was built around 95 theses and as part of the celebration a wiki has been established to update the latest thinking on the general idea that ‘markets are conversations’.

From the Cluetrain wiki there are some interesting social media takes from leading networkers and marketers on ideas from the book such as

• The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media
• There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.
• Elvis said it best: “We can’t go on together with suspicious minds.”
• We know some people from your company. They’re pretty cool online. Do you have any more like that you’re hiding? Can they come out and play?

If you in business and you want to understand what is happening with the dawn of social media for brands then this is the book that I would read…..because it is a wake up call in the sense that social media is not an option if you want to be part of the lives of your consumer….it is a certainty.