I disagreed with him at the time. Found the book to be a thought provoking and enjoyable read.
Over time, I have had success applying many of the ideas in the book. Small enterprises remain a place where the trends can be pushed back and more out of the way. Doing that makes for great customer relationships, high value communication and work being fun, even when it's responding to someone having trouble with the product and or service.
The least quoted and most important "clue" in The Cluetrain Manifesto is the "one clue" listed above the "95 theses." Written by the very sadly late Chris Locke, it says,"we are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. we are human beings and our reach exceeds your grasp. deal with it."
Sadly, that has not yet been proven true. Their grasp far exceeds our reach. But that doesn't mean it always will. Our Digital Age is three decades old at most and will last dozens or thousands of decades more. So it's early.
Here's to hoping better becomes a more dominant norm!
My take on this is simple: Live and work as example. This is powerful advocacy.
Doing that does improve our corner of the world and it can be catchy. Sometimes others will go seeking and sometimes they come to us.
While that door is open, people are receptive and sharing the good ideas can have an impact. Pushing on this stuff rarely works, and it is often painful. But, when they ask, "how" or "why" in such a context, being able to speak from a solid basis often gets the idea through and into their more serious consideration.
Thanks for your efforts. I got a lot of good out of that book. I myself was seeking when I bought a copy while on business travel. The advocacy idea I put here comes from my thoughts on how to apply the ideas I found in the book.
And wow! Who knew we would be having this discussion so many years later. I appreciate you and it is nice to be able to tell you directly.
Over time, I have had success applying many of the ideas in the book. Small enterprises remain a place where the trends can be pushed back and more out of the way. Doing that makes for great customer relationships, high value communication and work being fun, even when it's responding to someone having trouble with the product and or service.