EightBlack.

Andrew Keen is no stranger to controversy.

His book, titled “The Cult of the Amateur, How the Internet is killing our culture” has more critics than George Bush. It’s very name strikes a discord with “digital workers” of todays internet marketplace.

The Age ran a story recently on him. I found his website and interestingly enough, there was a link on his blog to an excerpt of 44 pages of his actual book.

I began to read and sat there in front of my screen, arms crossed, defensive to an almost militant point about the very industry I make a paltry living from! I expected a tirade of abuse and litany from a delusional, failed tech businessman who had a chip on each shoulder. He in fact refers to himself as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Known for founding the now defunct Audiocafe back in “the dot-com” era and now blogger and podcaster, Keen has become the true anti-believer. An internet-atheist. In many respects, to me, his book is the equivalent of Richard Dawkins “The God Delusion”.

As I started to make my way through the first 10 pages or so, I found myself leaning forward. I uncrossed my arms. Damn, this guy is a pretty good writer I said to myself. And he is. Real good. I didn’t even hate myself for admitting it.

The strength of Keen’s writing is his very own admission that he is essentially flawed. He makes this statement in the first pages…

So yes, I peddled the original internet dream. I seduced investors and almost became rich. This, therefore, is no ordinary critique of Silicon Valley. It’s the work of an apostate. An insider now on the outside who has poured out his cup of kool-aid and resigned his membership in the cult.

Keen’s very much against Web 2.0. It’s one of those buzz words that gets thrown around a lot. In fact, a lot of people still don’t really get it. I for one am not sure why I embrace it so casually. I suppose I’ve never really thought about what Web 2.0 is anymore than the next guy. I’d like to think I understand a little about what Web 2.0 companies are trying to do, trying to create, trying to achieve.

In fact, we work with Web 2.0 clients. Everyday.

Folks like Marc Adreessen don’t even think its worthy of a name. His post on “Why There’s No Such Thing As Web 2.0″ is essential reading.

I think Andreessen refers to guys like Andrew Keen when he states:

As a result of the widespread adoption of language like “Web 2.0 companies” and the “Web 2.0 space” — and startups referring to themselves as such, most of which will fail — you get a predictably cynical backlash from people who then dismiss the whole category as trendy marketing hype full of me-too wannabes and in the process throw out the baby with the bathwater and dismiss all the legitimately new and exciting products and companies that are being created all around us.

Keen thinks that the internet is killing off mainstream media. To me, his righteousness is a little over the top. It’s as if he thinks that mainstream media like TV, radio and press deserve to survive for an eternity, that its their god given right. I personally think that that’s just crap. A bit like the English thinking they deserve to win the Ashes for ever. Or the Americans thinking that the rightful home of the Americas Cup is on the East Coast of the US.

Tom Peters has got a great slide in one of his powerpoint decks that goes something like this,

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less”, the quote by General Eric Shinseki, former US Army Chief Of Staff.

On the day Keen released his book, he was invited to talk at Google. The video is here.

Don’t get too carried away because there’s 59 minutes of content, but if you want to understand where he’s coming from, and you’re trying to run away from your children or spouse and want something to do while you drink a bottle of chablis, then watch the entire thing.

The English have never been really very successful at criticising the US. Dawkins is about as welcome at most US Universities as a prostrate exam. I’m totally convinced that there would have been some very clever people at Google on the day he spoke there, wanting to run Keen over with one of those silly electric powered uni-cycles after he was done berating the industry that spawned the search giant.

Keen also makes some great sweeping generalisations. Come to think of, so do I. Maybe we all do. I blame my parents. Or something like that. He states,

“For the real consequence of the Web 2.0 revolution is less culture, less reliable news, and a chaos of useless information”.

It is I suppose if you allow it to be. What I think Keen fundamentally misses is that we have lost the power to choose. The internet as a medium gives us this freedom. Just because you read a story in a blog or an online newspaper doesn’t make it true. My 6 year old even understands that.

He goes on…

But perhaps the biggest casualties of the Web 2.0 revolution are real businesses with real products, real employees, and real shareholders. Every defunct record label, or laid off newspaper reporter, or bankrupt independent bookstore is a consequence of “free” user-generated internet content - from Craigslist free advertising, to YouTube’s free music videos, to Wikipedia’s free information.

By stealing away our eyeballs, the blogs and wikis are decimating the publishing, music, and news gathering industries that created the original content those websites “aggregate”.

Do you really agree? I think Keen starts to push the proverbial up-hill when he reckons that the blogs etc are stealing away our eyeballs. No they’re not. And this nonsense about news industries being the original creator of content. What? Newspapers and TV networks have been syndicating content for years. They’re the masters of aggregation. The pioneer and creator of the saying “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”. All the internet did was make the act of syndicating and aggreating a lot easier. And faster.

Today on the web where everyone has an equal voice…

No they don’t. The internet, like any economic force, has its own gravitational pull. Traffic is controlled by the chosen few. Not everyone who starts a blog about a specific subject can master the field. True, the barrier to entry is virtually zero, equal to all. But to be effective, to generate conversation, to attract readers, to make money, to be influential online takes work. The majority of us don’t or aren’t blessed with that skill.

I wish for example I could write like John Battelle. Or Marc Andreessen. Or have the online influence of Scoble. But I cant.

The 44 pages of the book excerpt finish with this:

Amateur hour has arrived, and the audience is now running the show.

Well, if that were true we’re all doomed. Personally, I’m glad to be able to participate. I love sites like Craigslist, like YouTube, I read more newspapers online than in physical print. More importantly, I love the fact that internet has allowed an academically challenged individual like me to learn. To adapt. And to change direction.

Keen’s book (well, the first 44 pages anyway) has sparked my curiosity. The conversation he begins, the argument he provokes, well, it needs to occur.

What do you think? I know what I’m going to do now though. I’m heading over to Amazon, where with one click, I’ll be able to purchase his book, have it shipped to home and emailed a confirmation in one foul swoop. And all much to his horror I imagine.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 7:24 pm and is filed under Books, Social Networking, Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.