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.

]]> http://geoffabrown.com/2009/07/16/the-cult-of-the-amateur-by-andrew-keen/feed/ 0 http://geoffabrown.com/2009/06/10/the-e-myth-revisited-why-most-small-businesses-dont-work-and-what-to-do-about-it/ http://geoffabrown.com/2009/06/10/the-e-myth-revisited-why-most-small-businesses-dont-work-and-what-to-do-about-it/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:02:08 +0000 admin http://geoffabrown.com/?p=95

E-Myth RevisitedI

I’m reading “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It” which is about small businesses and those who create them.  Having caught the entrepreneurial “bug” at the last few start ups I’ve worked at, I’m always looking for more information about start ups, small businesses, and what it takes to turn a great idea into a successful business.   I highly recommend this book if you have similar interests.  Here are a few of the nuggets of wisdom that I’ve picked up from this great read:

• There are three types of business people:  technicians, managers, and entrepreneurs.  Most small businesses are actually started by the technicians who go into “business” for themselves.  These folks typically create a “job” rather than a “business”.  The difference is:  you can walk away from a business and let others continue to run it whereas you cannot walk away from the job where you are the thing that people want (ex: contractor, plumber, baker).
• Businesses can go through three phases:  infancy, adolescence, maturity.   Not all businesses make it beyond infancy.  Fewer make it past adolescence.  Infancy is the stage where the business owner does it all himself.  He gets things off the ground and manages every last nut and bolt.  Adolescence is when the business owner hires help because they realize they can’t do it all themselves.  Most startups wind up here.   The ones that progress to maturity were probably structured to do so from the beginning two phases.  The ones that don’t progress either regress into infancy or flame out like a supernova in an “all or nothing” bid.

More to come as I continue to read the book.  It came reccommended via the “Internet Marketing This Week” podcast which I also recommend you check out.