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The Cluetrain Manifesto is a piece of business literature organized as a set of ninety-five theses. First published in 1999, the work purports to examine the impact of the Internet on marketing, claiming that conventional marketing techniques are about to be obsoleted by the online "conversations" that consumers have and that marketers must join.

Overview

The Cluetrain Manifesto was written and published on the web in 1999 by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger. A revised and extended version of the text appeared as a book under the same title in 2000.

The work asserts that the Internet is unlike conventional media used in mass marketing as it enables "human to human" conversations, which are claimed to transform traditional business practices. Technologies listed in the printed publication as conduits of such conversations include email, news groups, mailing lists, chat, and web pages. More recent technologies (such as blogs and wikis) are not mentioned.

In its form, the work alludes to Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, a central text of the Protestant Reformation.

The term "cluetrain" stems from a quotation the work attributes to a "veteran of a firm now free-falling out of the Fortune 500": "The clue train stopped there four times a day for ten years and they never took delivery."

In January 2015, two of the authors, Doc Searls and David Weinberger, posted New Clues, a follow-up to the manifesto.

The main idea of the 'Cluetrain' theses

A single paragraph summarizes the essential position taken by the writers:

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.

A reading of the '95 theses' can lead to a number of divisions or aggregations, it is possible to make a somewhat arbitrary split of the listed theses as a basis for understanding the content of the printed publication and a simplified structural view of the main suppositions of the authors.

Theses 1–6: Markets are Conversations

Historically, the authors state, the marketplace was a location where people gathered and talked to each other (thesis 1): they would discuss available products, price, reputation and in doing so connect with others (theses 2–5.) The authors then assert that the internet is providing a means for anyone connected to the internet to re-enter such a virtual marketplace and once again achieve such a level of communication between people. This, prior to the internet, had not been available in the age of mass media (thesis 6.)

Thesis 7: Hyperlinks Subvert Hierarchy

The ability of the internet to link to additional information – information which might exist beyond the formal hierarchy of organizational structure or published material from such an organization – acts as a means of subverting, or bypassing, formal hierarchies.

Theses 8–13: Connection between the new markets and companies

The same technology connecting people into markets outside of organizations, is also connecting employees within organizations (thesis 8.) The authors suggest that these networks create a more informed marketplace/consumer (thesis 9) through the conversations being held. The information available in the marketplace is superior to that available from the organizations themselves (thesis 10–12.)

The authors, through the remaining theses, then examine the impact that these changes will have on organizations and how, in turn, organizations will need to respond to the changing marketplace to remain viable.

Theses 14 – 25: Organizations entering the marketplace

With the emergence of the virtual marketplace, the authors indicate that the onus will be on organizations to enter the marketplace conversation (thesis 25) and do so in a way that connects with the ‘voice’ of the new marketplace (thesis 14–16) or risk becoming irrelevant (thesis 16).

Theses 26–40: Marketing & Organizational Response

The authors then list a number of theses that deal with the approach that they believe organizations will need to adapt if they are to successfully enter the new marketplace (thesis 26) as it is claimed that those within the new marketplace will no longer respond to the previously issued mass-media communications as such communication is not ‘authentic’ (thesis 33.)

Theses 41–52: Intranets and the impact to organization control and structure

More fully exploring the impact of the intranet within organizations, theses forty-one through fifty-two elaborate on the subversion of hierarchy initially listed as thesis seven. When implemented correctly (theses 44–46), it is suggested that such intranets re-establish real communication amongst employees in parallel with the impact of the internet to the marketplace (thesis 48) and this will lead to a 'hyperlinked' organizational structure within the organization which will take the place of (or be utilized in place of) the formally documented organization chart (thesis 50).

Theses 53–71: Connecting the Internet marketplace with corporate Intranets

The ideal, according to the manifesto, is for the networked marketplace to be connected to the networked intranet so that full communication can exist between those within the marketplace and those within the company itself (thesis 53.) Achieving this level of communication is hindered by the imposition of ‘command and control’ structures (thesis 54–58) but, ultimately, organizations will need to allow this level of communication to exist as the new marketplace will no longer respond to the mass-media ‘voice’ of the organization (theses 59–71)

Theses 72–95: New Market Expectations

Theses seventy-two through ninety-five aim to identify the expectations (theses 76, 77, 78, 95) and changes (thesis 72) that exist within the new marketplace and how those expectations and changes will require a corresponding change from organizations (theses 79, 84, 91, 92, 94).

Reception

After its publication, The Cluetrain Manifesto was widely discussed online, occasioning almost religious argument in some cases. Vocal adherents included technically oriented people, who were adept in building websites, writing blogs and making themselves heard on the Internet.

Some critics consider the work's public reception to be cultish. John C. Dvorak, for example, rejects the book's ideas and ridicules their adherents:

the apparent faith in this odd vision of an idealistic human-oriented internetworked new world/new economy marches forward. I imagine all these folks holding hands in a large circle, rolling back and forth, with some in the middle of the circle, spinning and chanting and hugging, all naked. I'm betting that most of these folks go to Burning Man and all of them write blogs about it and how cool it was. They link to each other's blogs and read what they say about each other—all highly complimentary.

Other critics point to the fact that the Internet cannot be conceptualized simply as "a conversation" or that human activity online cannot be reduced to the notion of a 'conversation'.

It has also been pointed out that the manifesto's predictions have largely failed to materialize.

On 22 May 2009, David Knowles in MarCom Professional wrote that the ideas within The Cluetrain Manifesto have been discussed since the release of the book and that conversational marketing "is just another channel in the marketing mix. It’s not a replacement for methods that continue to be effective when used well."

References

1. Levine, Rick; Locke, Christopher; Searls, Doc; Weinberger, David (2000). The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual. Cambridge, MA: Perseus. ISBN 0738204315.
2. Doc Searls; David Weinberger (2015-01-08). "New Clues". Cluetrain.
3. Dvorak, John C. (2002-02-22). "Cult of the Cluetrain Manifesto". PC Magazine.
4. Cherwanka, Andrew (2009-05-30). "The Illusion of Corporate Transparency: The Cluetrain Manifesto 10 Years Later". The Huffington Post.

External links

• The Cluetrain Manifesto website as of 1999
• Slides Presentation at SlideShare
• Original text of The Cluetrain Manifesto book
• Another archived text of The Cluetrain Manifesto book
• Doc Searls' Weblog
• David Weinberger's Weblog
• Chris Locke's Weblog
• Cult of The Cluetrain Manifesto — a viewpoint questioning the Cluetrain manifesto and its application
• The Cluetrain Local 599 — an interpretation of Cluetrain manifesto for people on a local level.
• Catching a clue from The Cluetrain Manifesto — an interpretation of its meaning to people in arts organizations.
• David Weinberger in Interview with 99FACES.tv - ´The Cluetrain Manifesto´and ´Too Big To Know´ (Jan. 2012)

See also

• Web 2.0

• E-commerce
• Business books
• Books about the Internet
• Internet properties established in 1999
• American websites