In fact, the book, he insists, isn't really about the Internet. It's more about personal responsibility: "It's not against technology. It's simply saying that we make technology and we need to control it. When we look at the Internet we're looking at ourselves."
Keen concedes that he made some mistakes in setting out his case which probably haven't helped win over the opposition. "I think I idealized mainstream media ... I concentrated on the good things. I didn't write about the tabloid press. I didn't write about Fox." His opponents have been able to pick holes in his arguments - indeed there is a Web site devoted to doing so - but he says the book is a polemic primarily designed to start the conversation, and in that respect it has been a success. "Even my biggest enemies agree that there is a need to have this discussion."
He also accepts that the clock cannot be turned back, that user-generated content will continue to dominate the Web, not because it's noble or truthful or authentic, but because it's free. "No one pays for content any more," he says. And if no one is willing to pay for content, then it simply becomes a publicity tool, another form of promotional giveaway. "That's what's going to happen with books," says Keen, "and even with movies. In a funny kind of way you could argue that that's what my book is. It's a way to build my brand so that people will pay me to make speeches."
And with that he goes off to tell an audience of Internet advertisers that they've got it all wrong. His talk is entitled "The message is dead: How Web 2.0 is reducing all marketing to spam."
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