The 95 Theses of The Cluetrain Manifesto

In 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle, continuing a powerful debate that eventually became known as the Protestant Revolution. In 2000, a group of tech/marketing guys from Silicon Valley believed they were the ones witnessing a profound transformation. Except this revolution had nothing to do with penance or the Pope, but everything to do with Big Business, which at the end of the Millennium, is the true religion of the masses. Like Luther did 500 years before, these techies, who called their movement "Cluetrain", decided to take their new, updated 95 Theses to the High-Priests and Priestesses of the business world. Instead of the church door, they posted their ideas on the world wide web for all to discuss. And this was precisely their point: thanks to the Internet, human conversations now defy traditional notions of time and space and are linking people and ideas all over the world. And most importantly, these conversations are affecting how people act, what they buy. And this is the "Cluetrain Manifesto" - businesses in the internet age must accept that markets are conversations. If they want to survive, they must listen and join in. But the ideas in The Cluetrain Manifesto can applied way beyond business. I will note two of the 95 Theses that are especially impacting. Number 6:

The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.

Yes. Statements like these are what keep a lowly blogger like myself going. Gone are the days in which mass media controlled our political conversations by giving us five bullet-points to discuss around the water cooler at work. Humans can now find practically ANY conversation on the internet and join in. From a business perspective, this means that companies selling products to the masses will now have to answer to an online debate about their products and business practices. The days of the silent, blind consumer are gone. Before people buy it, they talk about it. Imagine this applied to politics and government: before we vote it, we talk about. Nonsense, you say! Political discussions have occurred for thousands of years before the stupid internet came about. Yes, they did. But were they totally free conversations? Could anyone listen to them? More importantly, could anyone join in at any time? Not exactly. True freedom of expression - the ability to add your opinion to a global conservation with the click of a keyboard - is new phenomenon in its most embryonic stages. Events like the YouTube debates are the beginning stages of life for the idea of real democracy. No longer will the corporate media, which is in the Church of Big Business, be the gatekeepers of our political discourse. When it comes to Big Business, we will all be agnostics. This brings us to Theses 91:

Our allegiance is to ourselves - our friends, our new allies and acquaintances, even our sparring partners. Companies that have no part in this world, also have no future.

Ouch! Again, imagine this from a political perspective and in the future. Are Americans going to continue to divide their support between two political parties when their national conversation transcends the red/blue confines put in place by the corporate media? I'll let you field that one. Leave a comment. That is the essence of this revolution, isn't it?

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