We have come full circle

Markets used to be places to do business. Customers walked by stands or shops, listened to the sales people, negotiated and moved along. The market evolved, driven by the Industrial Revolution. The term 'Market' changed into a verb, customer became consumers and conversations became messages. Consumers and messages became replaceable.

As Doc Searls said: " There's no market for messages." And so marketing became a war: We focused on target audiences, ran campaigns, considered competitors enemies and developed strategies to beat them. The war lasted for decades and people got tired of it. 60 years of war will do that.

And so consumers decided to become customers again, they didn't want to rely upon corporations for information. Instead, they rely upon each other.
The TV Industrial Complex looks back longingly at the last decades. The masses have moved on. They've gone back to the market, have real conversations with real people and they want the marketers to listen.
Problem is, marketers are getting paid to talk. In these times, we should get paid to listen.