The Cluetrain Manifesto

by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger

As the authors put it, "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. ... These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. ... Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal. Same old tone, same old lies. No wonder networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do."

This may sound like marketing mumbo-jumbo, but if you take the phrase "markets are conversations" seriously, it makes you look at e-business Web sites in a whole new way.  Most corporate web sites are brochure-ware that looks slick and glossy — but also sterile and devoid of life.  E-business customers want to have conversations, want to form relationships, and want to feel like part of a community.  They can't do that with a web site that has the smell of death, and that only allows you to send email to "webmaster@xyz.com"