On the Internet, information gets outdated pretty darn quickly. Months pass and old blog owners consider pruning old posts that seem outdated. However, there’s one piece of information that has remained true and current for over a span of nearly a decade. The message comes from the Cluetrain Manifesto, which was written in 1999. The Cluetrain Manifesto was written well before its time; it is a precursor to social media of today. The Cluetrain Manifesto’s message is simple yet extremely powerful: markets converse with each other and the Internet facilitates that communication.

Here’s the opening paragraph to their key 95 theses:

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.

Eight years later, the Internet is laden with social networks and corporate blogging is considered a must. Social networking is mainstream. Businesses are talking to consumers in ways previously perceived to be unimaginable.

And still, more “traditional” businesses are treading carefully, afraid to take a plunge that could substantially improve relations for their businesses. But the Cluetrain Manifesto’s point is so important. Customers talk and the audience listens. Don’t believe me? One of the most pivotal examples is Consumerist. A recent blog post describes a man who wrote about the lousy maintenance performed when a Comcast technician installed wiring in his house. Consumerist, a very well known blog, picked up the story and Comcast fixed the problem.

On the other side, from a business perspective, Peter Da Vanzo writes about how opening communication through blogs has changed his life. He writes about the perks: job offers, conference speaking engagements, business opportunities, insider information, and of course, a bunch of friends, among other benefits from sharing your breadth of knowledge with your audience.

This could be you. This should be you.

If it isn’t, what are you waiting for?

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