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inspired by Clutrain: Network of conversations.
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marekj
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Apr 23, 2001 13:33 PDT
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Weblogs are a network of conversations. I live inside that network. I am
part of that network. The conversations I generate are fueling the
network. My conversations are fueled by the network. All is
interconnected.
These are conversations of the human heart. People write weblogs to
express their humanity. I know I do. - 'I don't care if anybody reads
it' I tell myself but that's a lie. I do care. I want to be heard. I
want my voice to be heard. I want my monolog to become a dialog with
another human being.
'JOHNNY WAS HERE' - you see that on some bus bench seat or maybe an old
tree trunk. Some Johnny guy wanted to be remembered. We all care. We all
want to belong to a conversation because 'we die, alone with ourselves'.
we die and 100 years from now no one will care that you didn't like to
wear a tie to work or your cubicle was too small. 'Life is too short
because we die' and we want to be engaged in conversations that
celebrate our life - because we die.
The corporate websites are also a network of conversations - but what
conversations? Do I want to be part of that network? I am part of that
conversation. I am born into that conversation. These are institutional
conversations. There was a human being who wrote it but the conversation
got put through the 'Matrix Machine' to come out just right, complete
with legal disclaimer, all that might offend removed and life sucked out
of it, ready for consumption with no side effects.
I went to AT&T's website to connect with the network of conversations,
to find out what conversation I am part of. 'Welcome to at&t' header
greets me. Below, a beautiful girl with a nice smile holding a
cellphone, talking, yet all her attention is on me, the visitor to the
site. I desperately look if there is life in her eyes. Yes, I found
it... but wait. no....no it's just scripted flirting eyes 'You're
looking pretty good sugar?'. Oy, They got me again. I am now clicking on
the 'offer' button. I am sucked in to the corporate network of
conversations and now I feel cool, rich, beatuiful for only 3 payments
of $19.95.
I keep clicking, hoping to find a warm human voice. I scan the page and
read phrases: offer, package, less than half of what you might pay, sign
up now, offer, award-winning, don't miss this incredible value, sign up
today. 'Aha' - I say, "Jakob is proud of me'. He knows 'people don't
read, they scan'.
BUT I DO READ, Jakob. You are wrong. PEOPLE READ. If it's a human voice
on a website then they read. I SCAN because I am looking for a human
voice. The less human voice there is on a website the more I SCAN the
page, the more desperate I am to connect - please, give me a human being
and not some marketing campaing wordsmith guy who scatters words on the
page like bait for fish to hook my lip so it drools with excitment for
the latest packaged offer with batteries not included. - Oppps. I must
have reacted to too many 'offer' words on that page.
I will go back to weblogs. I know I will find some human voice there.
originally posted at http://soapbox.weblogs.com/2001/04/17
marekj
Amused To Death | from monolog to dialog.
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