User-generated content

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

User-generated content (UGC) refers to various kinds of media content that are produced or primarily influenced by end-users, as opposed to traditional media producers, licensed broadcasters and production companies. The term came into the mainstream during 2005 in web publishing and new media content production circles. It reflects the expansion of media production through new technologies that are accessible and affordable to the general public. These include digital video, blogging, podcasting, mobile phone photography and wikis. In addition to these technologies, user-generated content may also employ a combination of open source, free software, and flexible licensing or related agreements to further diminish the barriers to collaboration, skill-building and discovery.

1 Characteristics and Development of UGC
- 1.1 Adoption and recognition by mass media
2 Criticism
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Characteristics and Development of UGC

Prominent examples of websites based on user-generated content include Flickr, YouTube, MySpace, Friends Reunited and Facebook. The advent of user-generated content marks a shift among some media organisations from creating on-line content to creating the facilities and framework for non-media professionals (i.e. 'ordinary people') to publish their own content in prominent places. Early examples of user-generated content include bulletin boards and groups on portals such as AOL and Yahoo.

User-generated content has also been characterised as 'Conversational Media', as opposed to 'Packaged Goods Media' (that is, traditional media). The former is a two-way process in contrast to the one-way distribution of the latter. Conversational or two-way media is a key characteristic of so-called Web 2.0 which encourages the publishing of one's own content and the commenting on other people's.

[edit] Adoption and recognition by mass media

The British Broadcasting Corporation set up a user-generated content team as a pilot in April 2005 with 3 staff. In the wake of the 7 July 2005 London bombings and the Buncefield oil depot fire, the team was made permanent and was expanded, reflecting the arrival in the mainstream of the 'citizen journalist'. During the Buncefield disaster the BBC received over 5,000 photos from viewers. The debate over the publication of the Mohammed cartoons in January 2006 prompted over 22,000 emails from viewers in the first couple of weeks. The BBC does not normally pay for content generated by its viewers.

In 2006 CNN launched CNN iReport, a project designed to bring user-generated news content to CNN. This was typical of major television news organisations in 2005-2006, who realised, particularly in the wake of the 7th July bombings, that citizen journalism was now a significant part of the broadcast news mix. Sky News, for example, regularly solicits for photographs and video from its viewers.

In 2006 New Line Studios made use of user-generated content during production of the movie Snakes on a Plane. New Line choose to reshoot the movie for five extra days adding suggestions from fans across the internet.

User-generated content was featured in Time magazine's 2006 Person of the Year, in which the person of the year was "you", meaning all of the people who contribute to user-generated media such as YouTube and Wikipedia.

[edit] Criticism

The term "User-generated Content" has received some criticism. Some commentators assert that the term "user" implies an illusory or unproductive distinction between different kinds of "publishers," with the term "users" exclusively used to characterize publishers who operate on a much smaller scale than traditional mass-media outlets.^[1] Such classification is said to perpetuate a distinction that some argue is diminishing because of the prevalence and affordability of the means of production and publication.

User-generated content has also come under fire from established media outlets such as the New York Times. Many claim that the quality of user-generated content is not up to par with the quality produced by formally trained writers and is contributing to the decline of standards in publishing, particularly with regard to news.