Reaction about the book The Cluetrain Manifesto. Focusing on the 95 Theses. Michael Angelo Magat. De La Salle College of Saint Benilde

Transcription

1 Running Head: Cluetrain Manifesto 95 Theses Reaction about the book The Cluetrain Manifesto Focusing on the 95 Theses Michael Angelo Magat De La Salle College of Saint Benilde

2 Abstract This is the introduction of the Cluetrain Manifesto 95 Theses. This chapter talks about the first 15 lines of the theses. The first 15 statements focus on market, conversation, people, companies, corporation and internet. The topics explains how the companies converse to the markets and how interconnected people talks. The chapter also explains how you can attract customers and how you can satisfy their needs and wants. This is an introduction on the things that you will experience when you enter the corporate world and what are the challenges that you will face.

3 Markets are conversations Markets are conversation means that people in the market, people communicates in order to sell things or service. People need to communicate to understand each other. Market is a place where people meet to talk about products and services. People in the market persuade its target customers or consumers to sell their products if the business people don t have a good communication skill the customers will not buy their products. In the market, people talk to each other to buy and sell things. People also ask on what the trends on the industry are and the businesses that are highly profitable. Good oral communication skills are very important on selling goods in the market; people that have good communication skills can sell goods easily unlike those people that had lack of skills. Consumers have different needs and wants and the producers must know these needs and wants to make profit. Business people must get the feedbacks from their consumers so that they can develop the quality of their products. If business people don t communicate, the quality of their product will not change and there is a tendency that their consumer will shift to other product that is better. In the early times, people exchange goods by communicating to each other and negotiating on what they want to receive. Exchange will not happen if two people don t have a conversation to each other. In the internet, people are making money by posting their products in the net and wait to a customer to respond. We must remember that communication is very powerful in the steps in making profit and selling goods and services What is a market? How can you converse to the people inside the market? What is the best way to make a conversation inside the market?

4 Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors This is the second thesis on the Cluetrain Manifesto. Demographic means data from a selected group or sectors like age, gender, income group, government, elite group and other groups of people. It is true that these groups exist but the businessmen should not focus on these sectors. We must understand that markets consist of human beings. Human beings have emotions, unique ideas and different perspectives that can change easily. Humans have different needs and wants that the market must know and produce. As I say to the first thesis, the markets must offer goods and services to the people or customers and the step to know this needs and wants is to communicate with the customers. The needs and wants of the people change because of the technology that is now available. People grow and think more critically in buying things and this will result to low income of different companies. Companies must treat people very well; they must always know that the people have feelings, the must always think of their social responsibilities to its people and treat them as human being. Markets consist of human beings, human beings that exchange goods and services and communicate to each other. Technology can automatically market goods but we know that on the back part of the process, human are the ones who created technology that can sell goods. Because of the high technology that we have, the process of selling and paying things became very easy. What are demographic sectors? What is the difference between a human and a demographic sector? What are the things that a company must provide to their customer?

5 Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice. This is the third thesis and it also talks about human like the other two. The third thesis talks about the human voice or human conversation. As we all know, humans are the only creatures that had the ability to think on its own and can move freely unlike the animals. Human needs money to buy things unlike the animals that haunt through the wilds to find and eat foods. Humans are very fortunate because we can easily get our foods on the stores or markets. Although we have different languages in the entire world, in the market we only use one language so that we can understand each other. There are many tools for us to communicate in the market like the internet, s, mails, telephone or mobile phones that we can use. The thesis tells us that we use human or common voice to communicate. Even if we communicate orally or verbally, we communicate using a human voice that we know and other people can understand specially the businessmen. The companies can know the reaction or feedback of their customers by communicating with them in human voice. The companies can now easily alter their product and giving the changes that their customers want for the product. I think the thesis wants to imply that only humans have a market. This thesis is like the thesis number one that markets are conversation. If two people are using two different dialects, they will not understand each other and the trade will not be done. If there is no exchange there is no market and profit. People in the market are using common languages or dialects so that we can understand each other. Question: How can you conduct a peaceful conversation within two people in the market? What is your understanding about the human voice? What are the benefits if two people communicate with a same voice? Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural and uncontrived. This is the fourth thesis and the title of this thesis is quite long. First let me explain my understanding in this thesis. Human voice is the focus on the thesis like the other three theses that I explain. We can see that human voice is very important in the market. Human voice is used in communicating to one another. Companies gain their profit by communicating to their customer properly; they always emphasize the quality of their products, and persuade their customer to buy it. The human voice is typically open, natural and uncontrived means that the human voice is sincere and true. Human voice helps us to convince other people. We share information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments and humorous asides by our human voice.

6 When we talk to our friends, we tend to be so confident and say what we want to say with no hesitations at all. We can apply this practice when we are dealing with our customers, we must be sincere and very confident when advertising our products to them. We must also practice to talk very simply to our customers because if we talk very technically, they will not understand us immediately. We must use simple words in talking but use meaningful words. We must also practice on how to listen properly. Exchange is a two way process, if you have a good communication skills, you must also have good listening skills. You must listen on the feedbacks of your customer so that you can observe the things that they want. Question: What can you say about the human voice? What do you think is the importance of the human voice in the market? What are the signs that a person is lying when he/she is talking?

7 People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice. People have the ability to recognize voices and the feelings that is inside that spoken voice. We have the ability to know if the people that we are talking to is lying or telling the truth. When someone is sad, we can feel his/her sadness when we listen to them even if he/she did not tell it. We also have the ability on identifying the sincerity that the person has when talking. By listening, we distinguish the different sounds that the things or animals produce around us. Identifying these things is a skill that we have that can help us to understand other people and we can use this skill to communicate to them also. Each of us has a unique sound of voice. We can identify to whom we are talking to even if we can t see them. Like when we call someone on the telephone, we can easily recognize the person we are talking to even if he/she is just talking through the phone. It is true that we can change our voice but by using our natural voice, we can easily recognize each other. We can also identify if a person is happy, sad, problematic, or other feelings by listening to the tone of their voice. We can use this ability on the market. When we buy our stuffs we must identify if the one that we are talking to is sincere on advertising the product and he/she is not lying on the benefits that the product can give to us. We must always observe on the people that we are talking because it is not good to give all your trust to them and they will just give you false hope in return. Do you think conversation skill is a vital skill that must be use in the market? How can you recognize people voice? How can human voice help you in selling your product?

8 The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media. The era of mass media pertains to the era of television, radio and newspaper. It is called mass media because they have many audiences and many people are watching, listening and reading them. When internet came, mass media suddenly became not that click on the people. If you are a type of a person that can highly utilize the internet you can conclude that the internet has all the things that mass media offers. Nowadays, people can watch their favorite primetime shows online, they can also listen to their favorite songs at YouTube, Imeem and many available music streaming sites and they can even download it. News are very common in the internet, there are many networking sites that is available and news site that you can find. I prefer to read in the internet than to buy a news paper because the news in the internet is free to read. I also think that when I buy a newspaper, I can t read all its content and the news nowadays are most bad news and you have to dispose the newspaper after the day you bought it. Newspaper consumes space in your house unlike when you read through the internet. In the mass media era, the audiences have the lack of ability to give their feedbacks to the company. People can t also give their reactions or additional information or ideas to the companies or network. Unlike in the internet, the readers can give their comments easily to the news or information they can also exchange ideas to other readers. I think internet easily surpasses the era of mass media nowadays and because of the advertisements that mass media give to the internet, millions of user are using and utilizing the internet. Question: What is the era of mass media? Which is a better, the era of the internet or the era of mass media? Why? On what era you want to be, Internet or mass media? Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy. This is the sixth line of the Cluetrain Manifesto and it talks about hyperlinks and hierarchy. First let me explain the meaning of a hyperlink. Hyperlinks are the links that you can see in a webpage that will lead you to another page when you click it. Hyperlinks enable a site to

9 advertise their site from other sites. The function of a hyperlink can be different in different sites. Some hyperlinks may enable you to send s, submitting forms, log you in a site and other functions. Hyperlinks can be an image or a text and text have a different color to distinguish that it is a hyperlink. People allow the people to browse the internet and gather information at high speed. Hierarchy means a rank or order of things and sometimes it based on authority. A series of things or people are arranged from highest to lowest to show hierarchy. Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy means that people use hyperlinks to overthrow or destroy hierarchy from the internet. Hyperlinks allow businesses to compete to each other but in manner that no hierarchy is being established. Business in the internet helps people to learn more information and gather data for the future use. Hyperlinks give connection from different people. Business compete to earn profit, if the competitors upgrade something to their service I think the best way to compete is by upgrading to a much more higher level than to your competitor. Change is the only constant thing in this world. We must always think that there is always a company that will try to compete to us and we should try to make our business to be much better to them. Question: What is a hyperlink? What is hierarchy? Do you believe that hyperlink really subverts hierarchy? Why? In both internetworked markets and among intranet worked employees, people are speaking to each other in a powerful new way. The eight thesis talks about internet, intranet, people and conversation, these are the main points of the thesis that I will try to explain. I will explain the terms that are included in the thesis, first is internet. Based on Wikipedia.org, The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the

10 standardized Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. Billions of people use the internet nowadays and it is still growing because even young people are using it now. Internet let us share things, information, pictures, music, videos and ideas through it. The market also uses the internet to sell their products and talk to their customer. Intranet on other side based on Wikipedia.org means is a private network that uses Internet protocols to securely share any part of an organization's information or operational systems with its employees. Sometimes the term refers only to the organization's internal website, but often it is a more extensive part of the organization's information technology infrastructure and private websites are an important component and focal point of internal communication and collaboration. The employees of a company are the ones who are using the intranet. They talk and exchange ideas through the intranet. We can see how powerful the internet and intranet in conversation and exchanging information in the eight thesis. When the internet is not yet utilize, communication for the workers is very sluggish and sometimes the exchange of ideas are not complete. People send information via snail mail or call through the telephone. There is also a times that the mail arrive late or the telephone line is busy. But now, through the internet, we can send s or talk to our colleagues via chat. Even if the person we want to talk to is not around, they can read your message when they go online. I am very thankful that internet is invented because it makes our communication to other people easier. What is the difference between internet and intranet? Why can you say that in the internet and intranet that people are speaking in a powerful new way? How can you communicate through the internet and intranet? These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge. As I discussed on the last chapters of the thesis, internet is very powerful now. Socialization sites are widely used by the people in the internet. There are sites like Facebook, Friendster, Plurk, Twitter, Multiply and many more sites that is available. You can easily meet new friends in these sites and exchange ideas or information. Exchange of ideas can happen in just seconds when using the internet. New technologies and updates are being posted in the internet and you can read it for free. The use of internet also helps people to communicate to the person that is in another country. Especially for the OFW that is far from their family, their family can easily talk to them via chat and . Internet link and connect people easily. Through the internet, we can easily join an organization outside the country even if we are not there. Social organization enables us to share our opinions, ideas, and feelings through blogging or commenting. We can share our pictures or videos through these sites and we can also post comments to other posts. With the

11 new trend of the internet, we can also set our business through it. When I m taking my SYSANAL class, we read different startup companies that use the internet and utilize its capacity in order to be successful. Internet is a good place where you can sell things because internet has many users and advertising your products can be very easy. We must appreciate the benefits that the internet is giving us and we must use these benefits in a good way and not use them to steal or scam other people. What is a social organization? How can knowledge exchange emerge through the internet? Do you think that the conversation inside a social organization is a powerful type of communication? As a result, markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. Participation in a networked market changes people fundamentally. Markets are targeting the internet because many people are using it. Entrepreneurs are now using the internet to sell their products. In the statement that markets are getting smarter, more informed and more organized means that the consumers and producers are evolving into new heights. Getting smarter means that the consumer s needs and wants are changing to better ones and consumers want products that can give them more benefits. The markets are more informed means that information can now easily process. By searching the internet, we can gather lots of information effortlessly. People are more organized nowadays and they are more focus on the designs and implementation. People are attracted to products that have many designs than a product that looks very dull. People change so is the technology. The change on technology is happening very rapidly. The competition on the market is very tight and the race to be number one is very hard to achieve. Many successful companies became successful because the study the trends on the market. They study the behavior of the consumers and their competitors and plan a way to make a profit.

12 In the networked market, people change on how they think and how they behave. In the networked market, you can be easily influenced by the people around you. When you talk to other people in the network, they can influence you on your ideas and opinions. These changes help the consumers and producers to be more informed, organized and smart people. Why do people change when they join a networked market? Does the change that happens on the people that is in the networked market beneficial to them? Why? Are the people inside the networked market are smarter than the people outside it? People in networked markets have figured out that they get far better information and support from one another than from vendors. So much for corporate rhetoric about adding value to commoditized products. When buying stuffs, we tend to ask questions on what are the features of the products, what are the advantages and disadvantages of it compared to other available product in the market. The question is, to whom we can get the relevant feedbacks for the product. I think the statement in the thesis talks about this question. People in the market want to get a comment or feedback of a product from their friends or co-consumers and not on the people that is selling the product. When we buy a mobile phone, we ask our friends on their advice on what is the model that can fit may needs and wants. Our friends can tell us what are the new models and they can tell us the good and bad things about the mobile phone. Unlike when we ask a mobile phone sales person, he/she will just tell us the good things about the product and not the bad things about it. The sales person will try persuade us to buy his/her products and sometimes they tell things that are not true or available on the product. When a sales person talks about his/her product sometimes he/she adds value to the product just to sell it and have a profit. A sales person will do all his best and talks on his best to market his product for the consumers. I think this is a bad practice for the businessmen when they add value for the product even if it is not true. Businessmen must be true to their words and promises to build a strong relationship to their consumers. Why is that people wants to get feedbacks from their friends instead of the person that sells an item? What are the benefits on asking the opinion of your colleagues or friends?

13 Why are you getting more information about the products when you ask your friends than asking the vendors of the product? There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone. At first glance of the statement I suddenly did not understand its meaning but as I read it line by line, I suddenly understand its meaning. The statement wants to tell us that we, consumers know better the products that we are using compared to the maker of the product. For example, the products that we use every day like shampoos, soaps, toothpaste and many more, we comment on this product and give our feedbacks to other people. People gossip these things to other consumers then the feedback will spread. People always tells news to other especially when it is intriguing. In the market, secrets are not allowed. If secrets don t come out in an instant, that secret will eventually known by people. Feedbacks from the consumers are very important for the companies and this is the reason why they always give feedback forms to their customer because they need their reaction when using their product. By analyzing the feedbacks of the consumers, the company can find out what are the qualities that the consumers want to get. During my PRODUMA class, there is a topic about the House of Quality that talks about the steps on how companies change their products for the better. Getting feedback from their customer is the first step on this method and I think it is right to get the feedback first because this is where you will get your data on what are the things that you should change to your product. The method is very helpful on how we can change our product to cope up with the needs and wants of our customers and I think that other companies must also practice this method when upgrading their products. Question: What is a secret? Do you believe that news can be easily spread by the consumer? Do you think that the quality of a product is very important? What's happening to markets is also happening among employees. A metaphysical construct called "The Company" is the only thing standing between the two. The statement is saying that there is a boundary between the people in the market and employees in a company. These two groups are making the same things but there is a boundary called The Company which separates the people in the market and the employees or workers in a company. People in the market find things that they need and the employees in a company also work so that they can buy the things that they need. People in the market compete with one another to sell goods and gain profit while the employees compete with one another so that they

14 can be promoted to a higher rank and get more income from the other. People in the market and employee in a company are doing the same thing in the process. Our main goal when we establish a business is to sell goods and gain profits while our main goal when we are working in a company is to do our job well and get a good income from you work. Metaphysical construct means a boundary that separates a two different body. Conversing with other people is another common point that the market and employee is doing. People in the market converse with other people, they market their goods and services by talking or chatting. Employees on the other hand converse with their colleagues and bosses in stating their plans or opinions. Communication is a very vital skill inside and outside the market. In order to persuade and sell goods to other people, we need to communicate. We must not forget the things that we learn from the past and we must always remember to always speak with confidence to our friends, colleagues and other people. What are the common things that happen in the market and inside a company? What is a metaphysical construct? Do you think that employees can be a person in the market also?

15 Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, and literally inhuman. Corporations consist of many organizations and this level of business is very high that consist of many critical processes. Executives don t work like normal employees do. In the corporations, you will experience many technical terms and it consists of many processes that somehow may sound inhuman to us. There are many steps in making a corporation and you have to have many assets and money to build it. When a corporation enters the IT world, they may sound very inhuman because the audiences didn t understand them. They are like aliens that enter our planet and promote their product in a way that it sounds very hollow and flat. They try to make a conversation to the audience and giving lectures on what are their products and what are the benefits we can get from it. Like in my other chapters, companies need to have a profit to stay in the industry. The websites of these companies or corporation consist of their vision/mission that sounds very inhuman to the audiences. Making a conversation to a normal person in a network is easy for a normal person but when talking to a company or a corporation in will be somehow difficult. Companies and corporation have their standards in their works and processes that are difficult to understand. Corporations must learn how to approach an audience because this will help them to sell more products and gain more profit. Why that is the corporations sounds inhuman to their audiences? Why do corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations? Should corporations change their ways when talking to their audiences?

16 In just a few more years, the current homogenized "voice" of business the sound of mission statements and brochures will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court. Back from 18 th century French court, being biased of the judge became a trend and somehow a practice to them. If you don t have the money, you will surely defeated by the aristocrats and high politicians or people. Marxism are practiced during that years that only aristocrats and rich people rule the country. People that lacks of power will be defeated by the powerful ones. People don t have the rights to tell their opinions and ideas to rich people. Powerful people or elite groups those days have their own secret conversations that they did not tell to the public. If the companies nowadays make these things and try to give false hopes to their customers, there is a chance that customers will boycott their product and this will lead to closing of the company. Like on the previous chapters, there are no secret in the market. The customers will eventually know the secret of these companies. Brochures and fliers nowadays contain the promises of the companies or corporations. These promises of the companies must be given to their customers so that they can get the trust of their customer. The brochures consist of the vision/mission of the companies that consist of flowery words, words that are difficult to understand and very technical. I think the companies must use simple words but catchy that can easily caught the attention of their target customers. The companies also know how to converse with their audience by using their brochures and fliers. I think this process can make the companies closer to the market and attract many customers. What is the practice during the 18 century French court? Do you think in few years time, the companies will be like the 18 century French court? Why are companies so powerful?