Caveat venditor-let the seller bewareWhile marketers look for more ways to get personal with customers, including new tricks with big data,” customers are about to get personal in their own ways, with their own tools. Soon consumers will be able to: Control the flow and use of personal data Build their own loyalty programs Dictate their own terms of service Tell whole markets what they want, how they want it, where and when they sh...

Caveat venditor—let the seller bewareWhile marketers look for more ways to get personal with customers, including new tricks with “big data,” customers are about to get personal in their own ways, with their own tools. Soon consumers will be able to:• Control the flow and use of personal data• Build their own loyalty programs• Dictate their own terms of service• Tell whole markets what they want, how they want it, where and when they should be able to g...

The Cluetrain Manifesto began as a Web site (cluetrain.com) in 1999 when the authors, who have worked variously at IBM, Sun Microsystems, the Linux Journal, and NPR, posted 95 theses about the new reality of the networked marketplace. Ten years after its original publication, their message remains more relevant than ever. For example, thesis no. 2: "Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors"; thesis no. 20: "Companies need to realize their markets are often...