Crushing the Web 2.0 Myths

net critique » Interview with Sole 24 Ore: Crushing the Web 2.0 Myths

Geert Lovink is a very well-known Internet critic; especially here in Australia. Here is Lovink at his best, taking on the myths of Web2.0 (interveiw on his own blog).

GL: Indeed, we have left the post-dotcom era, a relatively quiet period that gave people time to catch up with other aspects of life and develop ideas. Let’s get to the core of the Web 2.0 question: should we welcome the next round of nonsense investments? No. The problem is really not the Internet and the next generation of exciting applications. We should carefully listen to those closest to the fire, like Ed Phillips in San Francisco, who at the nettime list on March 23 2006 observed that surplus stock market money is, once again, roaming around the Bay area, looking for victims. Venture capitalists are Draculas, demolishing interesting Internet initiatives, forcing them into hyper-growth and takeovers. It’s the opposite of distributed and networked activities and their involvement only benefits the further concentration of power in the hands of Yahoo, Google and Microsoft. What is wrong is not Web 2.0 with its tagging, blogging and collaborative writing tools but the way business is done. Technology firms are a pray for those with “funny money”. You may look at it differently from the perspective of the individual firm but it is a fact that VC culture does not allow businesses to grow organically and develop sustainable business models. The heightened excitement only further fuels ’swarm’ locust behavior of users, leaving behind one ghost town after the other. The big difference, however, with 1998-1999 is that many more people now understand such underlying mechanisms. There are very knowledgeable critics these days, such as Nicholas Carr and of course The Register. And for cynics there is the good old Fucked Company. And do not forget individual investors, who have not forgotten all the money they lost.