The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual

The Cluetrain Manifesto began as a Web site (cluetrain.com) in 1999 when the authors, who have worked variously at IBM, Sun Microsystems, the Linux Journal, and NPR, posted 95 theses about the new reality of the networked marketplace. Ten years after its original publication, their message remains more relevant than ever. For example, thesis no. 2: ＂Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors＂; thesis no. 20: ＂Companies need to realize their markets are often laughing. At them.＂ The book enlarges on these themes through dozens of stories and observations about business in America and how the Internet will continue to change it all.

With a new introduction and chapters by the authors, and commentary by Jake McKee, JP Rangaswami, and Dan Gillmor, this book is essential reading for anybody interested in the Internet and e-commerce, and is especially vital for businesses navigating the topography of the wired marketplace.

Rick Levine is the founder of Seth Ellis Chocolatier. He was previously Web Architect for Sun Microsystems’ Java Software group.

Christopher Locke blogs Mystic Bourgeoisie and Entropy Gradient Reversals from Boulder, Colorado.

Doc Searls is Senior Editor of Linux Journal, and a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

David Weinberger is a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center and author of Everything Is Miscellaneous.

Jake McKee is the principal and chief Ant Wrangler at Ant’s Eye View, and he was previously global community relations specialist for the LEGO Company.

JP Rangaswami is chief information officer of British Telecom’s global IT services business.

Dan Gillmor is the director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.