“Andrew Keen is one of the most hated people on the internet. The reason for bloggers’ anger is his Web 2.0-critical book, The Cult of the Amateur. The self-proclaimed “Antichrist of Silicon Valley” explains what all the fuss is about (…)
Who says that power is in the hands of the people? I don’t see any evidence of this. The A-list bloggers – mostly rich, white men in Silicon Valley – are no more representative of the people than any other traditional cultural or economic elite. The only people economically benefiting from user-generated content are the freshly minted multimillionaires at Google, YouTube, MySpace and Flickr.
User-generated content is a huge scam. It’s a way for the owners of sites such as YouTube and MySpace to get content for free, drive massive audiences and then sell advertising around it. If content has any value, then its creators should sell it. Anyone who gives away their content for free is either untalented or naive. If the market won’t pay for your content, then work on improving it, but don’t give it away for free. Don’t help pay for the Bentleys and Maseratis speeding up and down Route 101 in Silicon Valley. Power is no more in the hands of the people today than it was in May 1968 or October 1917.”
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