Twitter, blogs and the cluetrain…
First - a couple of confessions…
1. Yes - I used to co-own and run a web development shop back in the late nineties. Oh the dotcom memories…
2. I was a big fan of something called “The Cluetrain Manifesto” - some say a fad back in those days…
In fact - I still am.
I was reading a couple of posts by some of my compatriots here at GridIron, as well as some threads on the media-motion list (a fantastic After Effects centric list of super users) about the relevance of Twitter etc.
It got me to thinking about marketing, communication, selling stuff (i do make software for a living after all) and how good / annoying it can all be. A couple of people were openly dismissing twitter as the new fad, a new source of spam, and as really an out of context, narcissistic broadcast of irrelevance.
I must also confess, that although I am a media junky - I am also media immune.
This got me thinking about Cluetrain, and just how spot on those folks were…way back “in the day”. The point being - if we simply just “advertise”, “spam”, “pitch” and “sell”, media immunity will kick in, and communication methods like Twitter and Blogs will be just the fads that some describe.
However, if people actually participate and put aside the “pitch” and act like human beings with a desire to communicate and actually say something of value, those tools will change the entire concept of “the market”, a company, a consumer and media in general.
If you find any of this even remotely interesting - Cluetrain is still a must read if you want to - “join the conversation”.
S.
Tags: Cluetrain, Media-Motion
May 8th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
#93 on the Cluetrain page is near and dear (and just a little troubling) to me:
“We’re both inside companies and outside them. The boundaries that separate our conversations look like the Berlin Wall today, but they’re really just an annoyance. We know they’re coming down. We’re going to work from both sides to take them down.”
Yep.
I tried for a while to keep my personal life separate from my work life.
But I failed. Now I’m not trying so hard. Just look at my Facebook friends. Some I’ve known for more than 30 years; some I only know because of a professional connection through After Effects.
And you know what? It turns out that I’m making friends with these professional connections now.
Now I just have to hope that Adobe doesn’t freak out as my humanity/personality seep into my professional communications. So far, so good on that front.