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3Q's: David Weinberger

David Weinberger is our avant theorist of connection. The co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto followed with Small Pieces Loosely Joined, which maps the deeper implications of the Web's "world of pure connection." David blogs about most everything, but lately he's been musing a bit about how marketers and PR types should retool some of their practices in a Web 2.0 world. We asked him 3Q's to tease those thoughts out a bit more.

Q: You've been doling out advice for the New PR & marketing -- namely that successful marketing will focus on facilitating conversations rather than broadcasting iron clad messaging. Since marketers obviously have a vested interest in these conversations, how can they participate honestly?

A: Many marketing people probably can't. They're too used to assuming that they own the conversation, that their company is the best source of information about its products, that the only good conversation is one that converts a prospect to a buyer, that customers actually want to hear what marketers have to say. So, the marketing department's best service is likely to be finding the market conversations that are already going on and encouraging non-marketing folks from the company to participate. Employees should participate simply because they're so damn interested in the topics. Even so, those employees should identify themselves as employees: Transparency is the new honesty.

Q: One of my favorite themes lately is the ever shrinking market -- the importance of very small groups, small ideas, products that do small things well. You have a great line that the Web will enable everyone to be famous to 15 people. Can you talk a bit more about this intense personalization of media and what smart companies might be doing with this insight?

A: From its beginning the Web has looked to many marketers like an opportunity to address micro markets through "personalization" (in quotes because marketing's idea of personalization is the anti-Christ of real personalization), one-to-one marketing, addressing a market of one, etc. Yes, a car company can build a web page unique to my interests and preferences. Oh goody. But the real difference is that before I get to that page, I've talked with my friends and with smart, informed, funny, passionate strangers about the car. The most important characteristic of this new market of "ones" is that we're talking with one another, and we're telling one another the truth about your products. Marketing is much less interesting than these conversations.

Q: There has been backlash lately to the overuse of the great idea "the long tail." Do you ever wince at applications of things from The Cluetrain Manifesto? Or, is the fact that the meme continues to spread solace enough?

A: My advanzed zen no-mind keeps me tranquil in the face of such illusory buffetings.

Yeah, right.

I'd say the most common misapplication comes from -- sorry to beat up on 'em -- marketing folks who react to Doc Searls' line "Markets are conversations" by thinking, "Yeah! Now how can we twist those conversations to our advantage?"

The other annoying thing we'd hear from time to time is that Cluetrain is against business or against making money. Hah! We're just against businesses made stupid by greed.