the cluetrain manifesto is an esoteric look at how the realm of "the network", what we refer to today as social media, has forever changed the way WE interact with the MAN. I haven't figured out a better way to explain this other than it's the great equalizing force if used properly. People now how the resources -- the network -- to battle all types of information. 

Notes from the 95 Thesis:

1-6: people are talking to people

7-9: social media and networks end the era of the expert

10-16: companies can't continue to speak in a one-way conversation; the world is networked.

17-25: companies must understand they are a part of something, not the something that we all watch

26-32: all marketing is a failure to understand how the network forms and what happens in the network 

33-39: community, discourse and culture is the key to all communication in the network

40-52: companies are hyperlinked not hyper-managed, companies must be able to "self-organized"

53-59: control equal paranoia and rarely encourages the best idea, "the law of unexpected consequences"

60-66: companies need to get out of their own way, "information wants to be free"

67-70: listen to the network, everything isn't about you

71-73: the consumer is the market is the creator

74-100: we are smart. we know you. let us help. take us seriously. trust us. engage withus. become a part of what we have built.

Notes from the Introduction:

• The Internet is like a bazaar, a marketplace of ideas where people come and go, banter and barter
• Hypertext by it's nature is non-heirarchical; it demands that the best ideas gain prominence BECAUSE they are the best ideas, not because they are promoted by a centralized location
• The marketplace is fine with risk and failure, uncomfortable with safety and regulation
• The community offers an enhanced opportunity to learn
• It is "the joy of the play" (Nicholas Negroponte describes this as "hard fun" in Being Digital)

There is a discussion of control, particularly the loss of it. However, that's not entirely true. This isn't a book about the loss of control so much as the redistribution of control. This is a digital version of Adam Smith's Invisible Hand of God (an individual pursuing his own self-interest tends to promote the betterment of the community)

Chapter 1 (Christopher Locke): Internet Apocalypso

Premature Burial

People are in search of something that gives their lives greater meaning. The mass media has allowed that to change the life of the bazaar (a marketplace of creativity and conversation) into the life of the consumer. We buy because we are engaged in a one-way series of messages driven by a mass, consumer media.

Testing, Testing...

• The Internet was created by people, removed from rules, given access to the tools and necessary sandbox
• The Internet quickly became a place where people could share ideas by way of talking (with text)
• That mediation meant tools were build (Levy's "tools to make tools" from Hackers)
• The art of the "flame", a participatory sport where ideas were judged on their merit, eloquence and fun; you needed to defend your way of thinking, and everything was subject to question; nothing existed as a given.

The outcome of this is that:

• you aren't tied to conventions
• your thoughts are neither expert nor definitive
• there were no reasons why problems could be solved; new tools were built

Waiting for Joe Six-Pack

• The Net + Web (these are different entities that operate differently) are not extensions of a global mass media, although they can have properties of that mass media; they will not succeed as that (see Yahoo's stock price)
• The Net + Web are not about brands, public relations, marketing, aggregation; the Net + Web are about connecting people together, returning their voice to the forefront of the business conversation.
• That means: we don't come to watch Heroes, we are together and heroes happens to be on

The Net + Web, at their finest:

1. provide tools and conduits to bring people together;
2. gives them enough information and story to connect;
3. and then creates a playspace where conversations can happen;
4. which can then be used to augment the information and story

From Ancient Markets to Global Networks

• We rely on commerce not as an economic tool, but as a promotion of culture
• mass media + mass production (and centralized authority) are impediments to those relationships
• we have become de-skilled at a time when cross-trained skills are most important for problem-solving in a digital, networked world
• command+control don't work in that world because it's impossible to heard the cats
• Do not go in search of the next mass media as markets explode into niches; this is not about brand and positioning
• subtle differences, loosening control, diversity + rule breaking

For more reading on this subect, check out Larry Lessig's The Future of Ideas (and frakkin' Google Larry Lessig while you're at it).

The New Workplace: Breaking the Silence

• participation is the key; but not simply chatrooms, message boards and feeback. The Net + Web are re-writable, they demand that ALL communication have a two-way component to it
• The crowd always knows more than you do (see James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds)
• managing the crowd means providing funding, facilitation and freedom
• the smart businesses will not worry about keeping the market separated, instead they will allow decisions and communities to form (see my 8 Rules for Building a Community,stolen fair + square from loads of smart people)
• when you impose arbitrary rule, people leave; there are always easier ways
• creativity is king; the Net + Web are places of meritocracy, not hierarchy

The New Marketplace: Word Gets Around

• I love this question: Who gives us permission to explore our world?; you must always ask yourself when you are building a story, community or the like and feel the need to throw up a roadblock, is this mine to block? Almost without a doubt, this answer will be no.
• The primary purpose can't be to sell
• Speak as humans speak and have faith in the bazaar + marketplace

Prospectus

• Let people play for you
• Make the play fun
• Open the sandbox