What the Fuck is Andrew Keen Doing on Twitter?

Andrew Keen is one of the most highly-publicized skeptics of Web 2.0, user-generated content and other such nonsense. His book, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture, makes a lot of the same general arguments that I (and others) have been making over the past couple of years.

So it was with some amusement that I received an email pointing me to Keen’s Twitter account. Let me rephrase that: so it was with some amusement that I received an email pointing me to Keen’s highly-active Twitter account.

That’s right, Mr. Web 2.0 is Bullshit appears to have a healthy Twitter life.

He has 1,200 followers (a good enough number to start his own cult perhaps), he’s following 600+ twats and he’s shared his wisdom about the ills of shallow user-generated content in nearly 1,500 shallow tweets.

Even though I agree with a lot of what Keen has written, bullshit is bullshit and deserves to be called as such no matter who is producing it. Given that, Keen might just deserve the award for Biggest Bullshitter. You hear that, Mikey? You’re off the hook, buddy.

There’s something especially ironic about a man who speaks of the ills of user-generated content and how it degrades culture actively engaging in intellectual masturbation (and not-so-intellectual masturbation) using the most over-hyped Web 2.0 service – Twitter. For the self-proclaimed anti-Christ of Silicon Valley, Keen seems to love its most treasured startup.

In short, Andrew Keen is a little like the persona called Drama 2.0, except for the fact that he’s a lot less handsome and he’s full of fucking shit.

Now I understand. Lots of people write contrarian books since it can be a profitable exercise. Take the flavor of the moment and discuss why it sucks. Good on Keen for taking advantage of it.

But you have to keep the rouse up. You can’t credibly speak about the destructive impact of Web 2.0 on culture and use Twitter, just as you can’t credibly speak out about the ills of illegal drugs while toking up publicly on Friday nights.

Unfortunately, I suspect that Keen has “gone native.” And to be fair, you can’t blame him. It was a necessity. Andrew Keen needs Web 2.0. After all, how is he going to earn income without it? Although I agree with many of the arguments he’s made, he’s not the most pleasant or entertaining writer/personality so his lateral options are limited.

Which leaves us with a logical explanation for Keen’s Twitter presence: it’s the only place where he can find people who still believe that Web 2.0, social media and user-generated content are still important.

Without stupid twats, Keen has nobody to argue with. Without stupid twats, he’s not a contrarian. Without stupid twats, he’s stating the obvious.

I simply hope that if Keen does another printing of The Cult of the Amateur, he provides readers with his Twitter account, ensuring that they know he’s a member of the cult. Disclosure is important, after all, isn’t it Andrew?