The cluetrain manifesto - 10 years after

I cannot believe that it has been 10 years since the Cluetrain Manifesto was published.Those who embraced it in 1999 knew that we were in for a super-wild roller coaster ride in the way humans connected. As they said:

"A powerful global conversation has begun.

Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies."

Certainly an early indication of the immense impact social media has today. We are connected technologically, providing the individual tools and abilities that for the most part were unknown even in 1999.

Despite being written as a marketing tool, Cluetrain provides a guide for anyone either beginning or continuing their social media journey; whether it's for a multinational forprofit corporation, or a tiny nonprofit organization struggling to survive in the current economy. Social media brings us all into a collective conversation, and the Cluetrain Manifesto is a very valuable road map.

"Corporate firewalls have kept smart employees in and smart markets out. It's going to cause real pain to tear those walls down. But the result will be a new kind of conversation. And it will be the most exciting conversation business has ever engaged in."

The Manifesto's 95 Theses read like an operator's manual, clearly identifying and describing the rules of the conversation and how we best cooperate to make it happen.

I thanked Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger in 1999, and I thank them again today. Their efforts and wisdom are most appreciated.

If you don't want to buy the book, read it here for free, compliments of the authors.