One of my favourite times of the year is the beginning of January because there is fresh energy in the air. A great deal of people start new projects, others give closure to old ones and simply everyone is trying to start fresh. For me, this is the second year I had the opportunity to celebrate New Year’s Eve outside my home (sweet home) country, although this time I am living in the vieux continent, at least until september 2013.
Living outside the Digital Life if tough, between 24/7 studies and not having a working smartphone (thank you Mr. Slim) I now own what I like to refer as the most expensive alarm clock ever. I mean, it’s difficult to breathe clean air, walk every day to the University and not having to work inside an office in front of a computer 28 hrs a day.
Well, even though I can’t complain, I do miss the digital life. That is why I’m reconnecting.
So basically all I do is read (Yes yes, in plain old white paper). There is something called copyright in this country. Well, one of my readings led me to something pretty interesting called The Cluetrain Manifesto.
For someone who dedicated (and will dedicate) his daily life to the web and the digital environment I should have known about this earlier, way earlier, like 1999 earlier. Here is a little comment on the book.
“The Cluetrain Manifesto is about to drive business to a full boil. Recall what The Jungle did to meat packing, what Silent Spring did to chemicals, what Unsafe At Any Speed did to Detroit. That’s the spirit with which The Cluetrain Manifesto takes on the arrogance of corporate e-commerce.
from the foreword by Thomas Petzinger, Jr., The Wall Street Journal
author of The New Pioneers“
The book starts with 95 principles, I pointed out 5. Why? Because I constantly read new Social Media and Digital Marketing books and manuals about the next best thing, best practices, and the coming revolution; but sometimes we forget that some years ago, someone had already forecasted it. Ah-mazing.
1. Markets are conversations.
6. The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.
20. Companies need to realize their markets are often laughing. At them.
34. To speak with a human voice, companies must share the concerns of their communities.
35. But first, they must belong to a community.
I recommend reading all the principles. And if you create time read the book. (Its free by the way and you can read it online anytime)
Reference: www.cluetrain.com