The clue train stopped there [Silicon Valley] four times a day for ten years and they never took delivery.”— Veteran of a firm now free-falling out of the Fortune 500
Years ago, when I was learning about International Shoe Co. and Personal Jurisdiction my brother was knee deep in the 95 Theses of The Cluetrain Manifesto. He was pioneering the social media, er, blogging strategy for an exploding startup, and he told me, “this is a foundational book.” He was right.
Cluetrain is the basis for the conversation that we’ve been having about Web 2.0 and social media for the last decade. The whole notion of listening, engaging and relating to our customers is drawn straight from the text of Cluetrain. If you haven’t read it, do it.
In preparation for my digital media marketing class this fall, I decided to begin the class with the foundation of the 95 Theses.  In last night’s class, I culled out a dozen of my favorites:
With over a decade in practice, I think the theses present some utopian views that have been tested and found impractical. However, Doc Searls assertion that “Markets are Conversations” certainly still rings true.
If you have read the 95 Theses, what are some of your favorites?