That’s the message of a new book by Andrew Keen called ‘The Cult of the Amateur: how today’s internet is killing our culture and assaulting our economy’. His main point is that social media sites have created a proxy culture of self-publication where the “wisdom of the crowd” has replaced the voices of experts.
What the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment.
That may be true, but I wonder whether Keen is confusing the use of the web as a source of information with its use as a social tool to chat and have a laugh with friends. For me these two processes are still largely separate, but then again, perhaps I am underestimating how much everything on the web is connected. To use one of Keen’s examples, when I search for a topic on google the results I get are ranked by popularity – not reliability.
Social media sites can be seen as massive hives of web activity where content is shared, copied, pasted, bookmarked and commented on – all of this activity changes the shape of the web. Keen is also concerned that such activity is creating a youth culture that lacks the pillars of truth and reliability – where content and authorship are separated and all opinions are valid.
I still think Keen needs to differentiate better between social media sites (MySpace, Twitter) and sites that aim to inform (blogs, Wikipedia), or am I being naive??
You can also listen to an interview with Keen on today’s Digital Planet programme.
Haha, I have just posted the same programme, just finished listening to the repeat.
Andrew Keen is an interesting figure to focus on – some of his blogs have come up before on my RSS feed and also referred to by others.
Mark Bauerlain is another blogger who has questionned the whole narcissistic element to Facebook and MySpace in particular. His article can be found here And some very interesting responses to his blog here and here
I also thought the segment on Digg was also very interesting, especially in the way that the stories that make the front page are generally very different to those making headlines in the traditional media. I guess that links back to Paul’s (Fish) comment on my blog.
It was also fascinating to hear that some journalists are also finding a following on Digg -could this be the way that the traditional media are heading?
Whilst Facebook and MySpace may require a certain level of narcissism, it wouild seem that Twitter is the complete opposite. For you to truly enter into the Twittersphere it would seem that you have not only to tweet regularly but comment on the tweets of those that you follow.
I think I’ve mentionned this article before, but it really is worth a read. It sums up beautifully the two ways of using Twitter. Andy Murray and Stephen Fry are both on Twitter.. But Stephen Fry is using the network better – not only can you follow him, he will follow you as well – I know this because he’s following me!
Basically the article questions whether it should be a two way relationship, and the answer is yes.
Along the same lines are these three blogs which tie in directly to your post Kai.
The first “Questionning Twitter and Status Updates” is interesting because it shows how updates can either be useful or narcissistic.
In the same vein, Charles Arthur also blogged about the Twitter updates that interest him. Again it is all about the usefulness of the update.
Finally there is “Eat.Sleep.Publish” which I have subscribed to on RSS – It is basically a blog about the changes in the publishing industry, but Web 2.0 often pops up as well. On the plus side, the links embedded within this post also point to how newsrooms and journalists are using Twitter.
(As a heads up I am currently writing a post on how journalists have been using content from Social Media in reports recently and whether this is ethical – it linked back to Ali’s and Kai’s comment about whether you should or shouldn’t snoop on Social Media etc…)
Is Facebook a digital antidepressant?
Social Media Today suggests that the narcissistic qualities of social media can actually benefit users.
In a society where low self-esteem is rife, surely social media is merely playing a part in redressing the balance?
The original article can be found here – it is in French so I have translated it here