Technology and that Libertarian Moment Thing

Is Web 2.0 dead? Will the next generation of web technologies be about building communities or individualism? From an interview with Andrew Keen on TechCrunch, Keen makes the argument that it's not about building community today, that instead it's already a rabid meritocracy with all the "riches" and power (or in the case of twitter, "followers") accruing to the best and only a few. While few people agree with Keen, he makes a relevant point that many Web 2.0 technologies (YouTube and Facebook for starters) have difficulty monetizing their networks.

Maybe he's operating on a different definition of what Web 2.0 is, versus some of his critics. Perhaps instead it's more accurate to describe the move of audiences to publishers increasingly on merit and content and away from traditional forms of authority like government and legacy media. If their response (or rather, lack thereto [Michael Graham via SmallDeadAnimals]) to the recent Tea Party protests is any measure, this is undoubtedly a good thing.