I’m not one to brag on Cluetrain, or anything for that matter. But it was a bestseller, and continues to sell well. We’ve heard from thousands of people over the years about it.

FWIW, etc.

“As I said in that talk, the main reason Cluetrain succeeded…”

Has it succeeded? If so, by what metric? Book sales, downloads?

In my opinion claiming success is premature–mostly because you haven’t heard from the larger mass of people who could care less about this entire conversation.

The problem with Apple, as with, say, the New York Times, is that it is a good example only of itself. (Maybe LEGO is this way too. Be interested in hearing your thoughts on that.) Apple can get away with being as closed and uptight (know any Apple bloggers?) as it is, because they do what they do (and only they do) so well.

The danger is that others will try to be like Apple in ways that are not only impossible (e.g. make unique and strikingly stylish products, and control everything about them exclusively, from manufacture through retail and service) but a bad idea in any case — for every company other than Apple. (And hell, maybe for Apple too, but how can we tell? There’s only one of those.)

Most companies are herding animals. They talk about being unique, but they feel most comfortable following and avoiding risks. That’s why Times Select, the NY Times’ now-defunct attempt to make money by locking up editorial and retailing it after its print versions were fishwrap, became a dumb model for newspapers everywhere. The whole field still hasn’t recovered.

Please use terms with better affinity, e.g.

Cluetrained – someone who’s grokked the Cluetrain Manifesto

Cluetraining – the process of becoming cluetrained.

Cluetrainer – an evangelist.