The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen

In an effort to go a bit deeper in my recent research for the recent SMCLA Panel on “Citizen Journalism: How Social Media Effects How We Report and Consume News“, I stumbled across a few references to this book titled “The Cult of the Amateur” by Andrew Keen and I was so impressed with the first few pages that I decided it was worth a read.

You might not expect someone so deeply entrenched in social media to find what Andrew Keen has to say to be very agreeable.  After all, he claims” that the democratization of media has led to the decline of culture”.  Instead of hating him for it, I actually find myself agreeing with much of what he has to say.  I do feel that too many amateurs are publishing too much sub-par content (myself included) and that it’s taking away from the experts who should be able to ply their trade in exchange for revenue.  In essence, the classics (and future classics) are being buried underneath a seemingly endless pile of mediocre content.

This is a book that I will read, re-read, highlight and then quote often as I observe how technology and our collective narcissistic desire to provide a constant flow of value-less content makes it harder and harder for me to connect with the content that deserves to rise above the flotsam and jetsam of literature, art, cinema and music.

I found the most poignant quote from the book to be:

Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated.  Under these rules, the only way to prevail is by infinite filibustering.

If he didn’t just describe what Twitter has become, I’m not sure I’ve seen a better description.   Just go ahead and follow the #IranElection hashtag to see what I’m talking about.  There’s so much noise, you don’t get much of anything out of it.  It’s only when you turn to the expert journalists who take the time to filter, fact check, validate and then deliver a high-quality report do we begin to see something.

If you have a blog, a Twitter account, a YouTube account or if you’ve ever published something on the Internet, I highly recommend this book.