* Book Review: The Cluetrain Manifesto

The central startling simple revelation in the book is that business is (or should be) a conversation.

By Erik J. Heels

First published 10/1/2000; Law Practice Management magazine, “nothing.but.net” column; publisher: American Bar Association.

There is an excellent book (and accompanying website) called “The Cluetrain Manifesto” (http://www.cluetrain.com/). The central startling simple revelation in the book is that business is (or should be) a conversation. That customers want to talk with the people behind the faceless corporations. That these conversations are already taking place on the Internet in places like Yahoo stock boards, Usenet newsgroups, mailing lists, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) sessions, and chat rooms. That the conversations are taking place with or without the people behind the corporations. That these conversations are taking place inside of companies as well on unfettered corporate intranets. Some companies are listening – to their employees and to their customers – and some are not. And most importantly – customers are talking with their wallets, employees with their at-will status.

“The Cluetrain Manifesto” by David Weinberger, Rick Levine, and Christopher Locke.

Summary: five stars (5/5).