Four guys in their fifties—Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger—coauthored The Cluetrain Manifesto in 1999, a business literature work containing ninety-five theses on the impact of the Internet on marketing.
According to the authors, conventional marketing techniques have become obsolete as a result of consumers' online "conversations" that companies must participate in. The work alludes to Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses published five centuries earlier as the central text of the Protestant Reformation, highlighting the revolutionary intent of the authors.
The first theory states that "Markets are conversations". As the authors claim, traditionally, the marketplace served as a place for people to come together and communicate. They would discuss products, prices, and reputations, and thus connect with others. The authors then assert that the Internet is providing a means for anyone connected to re-enter such a virtual marketplace and once again achieve such a level of communication between people.
Many consider the Cluetrain Manifesto a precursor to conversational commerce. Conversations have been brought online by messaging apps, live chats, chatbots, and voice assistants. AI is making those conversations sound human, as stated in the third thesis: "Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice."
And "Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy," declares thesis 7. Subverting formal hierarchies is possible through the Internet's ability to link to additional information that may exist beyond the formal organizational hierarchy.
All of the websites on the Internet represent these formal hierarchies. These are one-way communication channels between organizations and their customers. Links, however, are not hierarchical, they are horizontal and can be directed in any direction. "Markets consist of human beings" who talk to one another. The new way to shop is through conversational commerce. The Internet is your marketplace.