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BOOK REVIEW

"The Cluetrain Manifesto"
By Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger.

Aiming squarely at the heart of corporate America, authors Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searles and David Weinberger show how the Internet is turning many businesses upside down.

They proclaim that thanks to various conversations taking place via e-mail, message boards, and in chat rooms, employees and customers alike have found voices that undermine the traditional command-and-control hierarchy that typifies most corporate marketing groups.

"Markets are conversations," the authors write, "and those conversations are getting smarter faster than most companies."  In their point of view, the lowly customer service representative wields far more influence in today's market than public relations specialists.

The Cluetrain Manifesto began as a web site in 1999 when the authors posted 95 theses announcing what they felt to be the new reality of the networked marketplace.

For example, Thesis No. 2: "Markets consist of human beings, not different demographic sectors."  Thesis No. 20: "Companies need to realize their markets are often laughing.  At them."  Thesis No. 25:   "Companies need to come down from their ivory towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships."

Cluetrain Manifesto expands on these themes through essays filled with dozens of observations and stories about how business is handled in America and how the Internet will change it all. 

While Cluetrain may strike many as loud and over the top, the message itself remains quite relevant and unique...a great find for anyone interested in achieving a successfully sired marketplace.

(February, 2002)