Digital Vertigo

The ‘cult of the social’ is jeopardizing both our individual privacy and liberty. What is the impact of digital technologies and social networking on 21st century business, education and society?

Does Mark Zuckerberg know what the word ‘friend’ means? Why are we all becoming so addicted to Twitter? Should everyone really be broadcasting the most intimate details of their lives on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google +?  Andrew Keen exposes latest Silicon Valley mania: today’s trillion dollar social networking revolution that is transforming the Internet. Every new online start-up – from commerce to communications to entertainment  – is now going social in a transformation called ‘Web 3.0’. The ‘cult of the social’ is jeopardizing both our individual privacy and liberty. Social media, with its generation of massive amounts of personal data, is encouraging us to fall in love with something that is too good to be true – a radically transparent 21st century society in which we can all supposedly realize our authentic identities on the Internet. What is the impact of digital technologies and social networking on 21st century business, education and society?

Andrew Keen is an Internet entrepreneur who founded Audiocafe.com in 1995 and built it into a popular first generation Internet company. He is the host of ‘Keen On’ show, a popular Techcrunch chat show, a columnist for CNN and a regular commentator for many other newspapers,  radio and television networks around the world. He is the author of the international hit ‘Cult of the Amateur: How The internet is Killing our Culture’ (‘De @-cultuur’), which has been published in 17 different languages. This year, he published ‘Digital Vertigo:  How Today’s Social Revolution is Dividing, Diminishing and Disorientating Us’ (‘De digitale afgrond’).

Interesting links
Andrew Keen
Wikipedia Andrew Keen
Youtube TEDx Wenen
Andrew Keen on Digital Vertigo