Revisionist Marxism or Keen Misunderstandings
Web 2.0 Is Reminiscent Of Marx - CBS News
According Mr. Andrew Keen, by accepting the tenets of blogging, we have become Marxists in nature. I wonder how Glenn Reynolds would respond to such a threat, being a man who’s very popularity is derived from these “Marxist” views.
But realistically, is this a question of “drinking the Kool-Aid,” or is Mr. Keen making a valid statement? I would argue, as Mr. Keen sees it, the Web 2.0 world is insane. No sane person would want this cacaphony of voices adding even more noise to an already noisy medium. Mr. Keen does miss a few major points.
Not everyone will blog. Not everyone who is capable and has the resources to blog will blog. Most people are quite happy about being the audience. Those of us who choose to perform are still (and I would argue, always) in the minority. Our reasons are varied and many, but I would bet that it is rarely to overthrow the “elite” mainstream media.
Citizen Media in its real form is started as a soap box. That is a step towards Mr. Keen’s distopian view, but it is the only step for easily 90% of those who will speak. Most bloggers have only a handful of viewers, and many are happy with those numbers. They speak to friends and family. Those who speak to the greater world do sometimes espouse a disgust with those who control the message.
Most of those looking for a larger audience do so by focusing on a niche. Some find a niche in which they compete with mainstream media, most don’t. I have a hard time seeing Robert Scoble competing with Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. I can see him correcting publicly something that Mossberg got wrong in his column. And that’s the key.
Blogs are more like the opinion page of a newspaper. Craigslist.com takes over for classified. Web 2.0 is a threat to many of the institutions of the mainstream media, but, as of now, never a threat to the institution at large. Marxism espoused revolution, Web 2.0 espouses gradual evolution and, dare I say it, synergy.