More Passengers on The Corporate Cluetrain
Back in February, I wrote about how Microsoft had lanched Channel9, an honest and open discussion with their developer community, a strategy the heady authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto introduced over a decade ago.
They are now joined by Starbucks and Dell, so says MSNBC.
What’s the nuance? First off, it’s interesting to note that the service for both companies comes not from Blogger, WordPress or Ning, but from Salesforce, who focuses on customer relationship management.
It’s also noteworthy that both companies undertook this strategy under the duress of losing their connection to customers, as measure by decreased sales.
The question on my mind is when (not whether) this mechanism moves from being a ‘good strategy’ to a ’standard operating procedure.’ And when, as Locke, Weinberger, Searles and Levine wrote so long ago, will those who ignore this open conversation be removed from the discourse by their former customers?
